


Pretend or Real

by foryutae



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-05 09:11:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15860634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foryutae/pseuds/foryutae
Summary: Taeyong’s longtime crush on Yuta has never gone anywhere. But when Ten sets his sights on Yuta, Yuta has to come up with a way to turn Ten down..A plan is hatched: Taeyong can pretend to be Yuta’s boyfriend. But Taeyong has never had a real boyfriend, let alone a pretend one! Can he manage to convince everyone he’s Yuta’s boyfriend, and then convince Yuta that they're meant to be...for real?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is definitely my first time writing and of course it's my first work lol please let me know your thoughts!

 

There was a mysterious box on Taeyong’s bed. He could tell from its large shape that it wasn't a book or an Amazon gift certificate, which was disappointing right up front.

It was a ball. Yes, a soccer ball.

Taeyong didn't play soccer. He had never played soccer in his life. This was very ominous.

Taeyong was standing next to his bed, examining the ball, when his father, Mr Lee, appeared in the doorway.

“Isn't it great?” Mr. Lee said happily. “I got the best one for you.”

“Um”, Taeyong replied. His twin brother, Youngho, followed Mr Lee and Mrs Lee into the room and slouched against the door frame, he didn't look any happier than Taeyong was. Maybe he'd gotten some sinister, inappropriate present, too.

“Youngho-yah, are you confused as I am?” Taeyong asked. “Do mom and dad think the Holy Spirit of Athletic Sons Everywhere has finally arrived to possess me?”

Youngho shrugged, and Mrs Lee batted at Taeyong. “We’re right here, Taeyong,” his mother said. “You can ask us these questions, you know.” Of course, she didn't wait for Taeyong to ask. “It's for the day camp!”

“Day camp?” Taeyong said. “I thought Youngho and I were doing the dance program at the school.”

“Turns out the program was full,” Taeyong’s mom said. “So you're doing soccer instead. Won't that be fun?”

“Oh no, Mom I hate soccer.”  
“You don't know that you hate soccer, dear,” Mrs Lee said.

“Lucky you already know how to play soccer,” Taeyong said to his brother. Soccer had been one of Youngho’s brief obsessions, so he'd taken lessons long enough to be a decent player. “At least you'll definitely look cooler than me with this.” He tried to flip the ball and dropped it on the floor.

Mr. Lee sighed. “Well, that's the bad news. Youngho’s not going with you.”

“What?” Taeyong was horrified. The whole point of having a twin brother was that you never had to go anywhere by yourself. So you never had to stand around awkwardly, feeling like the pigeon in a flock of flamingos, while nobody talked to you. “But why? We were going to do it together!”

“We’ve decided soccer is not what Youngho needs right now,” Mrs Lee said.

“Mom, that's not fair! Why does he get to stay home and play video games while I have to go out and look like an idiot all by myself?”

“It'll be good for you,” Mrs lee said firmly. “And look on the bright side: you might actually make friends besides your brother.”

Taeyong used to have a best friend besides Youngho: Moon Taeil, his best friend through all of elementary school. But Taeil had moved to Japan a year before, and Taeyong hadn't found any one else. It was hard to make new friends at his school, where he would always be known as “Taeil’s quiet friend” or “quirky Youngho’s brother”.

“No I won't!” Taeyong cried. “Mom, I'll be the only person I know there! No one will talk to me and it'll be so awful; _please_ don't make me go without Youngho.”

“You'll know someone else,” Youngho said, finally chiming in. “Yuta’s going to play, too.”

 _Thump-thump_. Taeyong felt his heart jump up and bang into his rib cage. Okay, that did make a difference.

Nakamoto Yuta was Youngho’s best friend. Yuta was outgoing, adorable, smart, and funny and as far as Taeyong could tell, every freshman and sophomore student at Hana High wanted to date him.

But Taeyong’s crush on Yuta was different from everyone else’s. It was. Those who liked him the way you like a kdrama star, but Taeyong liked the real him. He knew why Yuta was friends with Youngho. He was there the day they met.

Back then, Yuta was the new Japanese guy in their school. He showed up for the first day and practically made other students swoon all the way down the hall. In Pre-Algebra, second period, Mr. Kim split Youngho and Taeyong up and sat Yuta right in the between them.

Taeyong kept looking over at Youngho, thinking of things he wanted to tell him, but figuring it was too risky to pass a note through a stranger. The third time he looked over, hoping he'd noticed that Mr. Kim’s bald spot was shaped exactly like a pineapple, Taeyong saw him watching Yuta's hands. Yuta was folding a piece of paper, over and over, and twisting it around. The siblings both stared at him until suddenly, sitting on Yuta’s desk, there was a small origami whale that could fit in the palm of your hand.

With a studious expression, Yuta drew eyes and a smiley face on the whale. Then he looked up and caught Taeyong smiling at it. Taeyong looked away quickly, embarrassed.

After class, as Taeyong was gathering his books, Youngho leaned over to Yuta.

“Hey,” he said, “That was cool. It's origami, right? Can you make other stuff too?” Taeyong knew that Youngho must be really interested, because he hardly ever talked to strangers. But once he started talking, it was pretty hard to make him stop.

“A few other things,” Yuta said. “My dad taught me. I can show you if you want.”

“Sure!” Youngho said. “How about  
Saturday? You can come over for lunch.”

“Don't you want to know my name before inviting me over?” Yuta said with a cute and healing smile.

“That dork is Youngho,” Taeyong said. “My twin brother. I'm Taeyong.”

“I'm Yuta,” the new kid said, shaking Taeyong's hand solemnly. Taeyong felt like his heart was about to burst at any time. He was amazed at how fluent Yuta was speaking in Korean, which made his heart beat two times faster than it usually was.

“Will you be there on Saturday too?” he said to Taeyong.

“P-probably,” he said. _Meaning_ _definitely_ , _if there's a chance you’ll be there._ He knew Taeil would be more than happy to come over and meet the new guy.

“Okay. Saturday would be great. Thanks, guys.”

\------

The next day, Taeyong saw Yuta carrying around _mangas_. He was the only guy he knew who read _mangas_ for fun. Basically he and Youngho shared the same hobby.

That was why he got along so well with Youngho. Yuta could probably have ditched them for a more popular crowd if he'd joined a sports team, but he liked Youngho’s strange interests. Whenever Youngho found a new hobby, Yuta read up on it.

So he knew the real Yuta, just like he knew the real Youngho, when nobody else did. Taeyong thought of his front door as an enchanted mirror, like the looking glass Alice climbed through in the book. When he and Yuta and Youngho walked through it, they became their real selves. Here Youngho talked as much as he wanted to. Here Yuta thought Taeyong was funny.

Here Taeyong could imagine that maybe one day Yuta would look at him and see Taeyong, boy of his dreams, instead of Taeyong, his best friend’s brother.

Taeyong still had the whale. It was hidden in a shoe box in his room, next to other secret Yuta things.

And nobody knew how he felt, not even Youngho, who knew every single other detail of his life and every thought that ever crossed his mind.

“Yuta?” Taeyong said, picking up the ball and trying to flip it again. He hoped the nervous shake in his voice would be hidden by the clatter of the falling ball. “He's going to the camp?”

Youngho nodded, “He’ll be in the advanced class, of course.”

“Of course,” Taeyong said, losing hope again. Yuta was one of the best soccer players in the school.

“Why can't you come with me?” Taeyong said plaintively.

“Because I said so,” Mrs Lee interjected. “Remember me? Still in the room?”

“Mooooom,” Taeyong whined, flopping onto his mattress and trying to look as woebegone as possible.

“It's all decided,” Mrs Lee said. “Camp starts tomorrow.”

The doorbell rang. _Be_ _booop_ bee _booop_.. _bee_ _boop_ _beeeeee_ _boooooop_. Taeyong liked the weird chimes it played. Besides, it was the sound that usually meant Yuta was there.

“That's Yuta,” Youngho said. “He called and said he has some major problem and needs our advice. Although why he'd want to ask a moron like me is the real question.”

“Oh, Youngho-ah,” Mrs Lee said. “Don't talk about yourself like that.”

“It's probably another crush crisis,” Taeyong said. Yuta was always having crush crisis — either someone wanted to date him, be it girls or boys, or there was someone he wanted to date.

“I'll be down in a minute,” Taeyong called and Youngho thumped down the stairs.

Taeyong ran over to the mirror and put on the necklace Yuta had given him for his birthday the past July. He always wore it around him, for good luck. It was just a strand of small black glass beads, but he liked it.

He brushed his hair — dark brown — and scrunched his nose at the reflection. Well. He looked pretty much the same as he did every day, so if it hadn't worked yet, it probably wouldn't now.

Taeyong found Youngho and Yuta, as usual, in the living room. Youngho was playing with the brand new camera that Yuta just bought last week. Yuta was still standing by the door, and when Taeyong walked in, Yuta threw open his arms and went, “Yongie!” in this dramatic excited voice.

This was their new joke. The week before, Youngho had asked them to act out a scene for his camera, and when Yuta started doing everything all over-the-top and melodramatic, Taeyong had followed along. They thought this was the most hilarious thing ever, and they couldn't get through three lines without falling over laughing. Youngho didn't think it was quite so funny.

“Yukkuri!” he cried now with the same dramatic enthusiasm. _Yukkuri_ — that was the nickname Taeyong gave to Yuta. It was one of the Japanese words that Yuta taught him. To Taeyong, the word was too cute and it suited Yuta so well, so he called the latter, _Yukkuri_.

“Oh, shut up,” said Youngho.

Yuta held up his hand and Taeyong high-fived him. As Yuta walked back to the couch, Taeyong curled his fingers over his palm, holding in the warm, tingly feeling his crush had left behind.

“So what's the new crisis, Yuta?” Youngho said, setting the camera on the coffee table and kneeling to peer through it.

“It's the end of the world,” Yuta said as Taeyong sat down on the other end of the couch from Yuta. “I am,” Yuta said “I’m totally doomed.”

“Why?” Taeyong asked. As far as he knew, Yuta had been single for a couple of months, ever since Dong Sicheng had broken up with him.

“Ten,” said Yuta.

Taeyong’s heart sank. Ten was the classic popular boy — handsome, very good in dancing, and blissfully mean. Once he got his hooks into someone, they stayed hooked, after he dumped him. If Yuta had fallen for someone like Ten, Taeyong didn't stand a chance. In fact, if Yuta had fallen for someone like Ten, maybe Taeyong didn't know Yuta that well after all.

“Ten Chittaphon?” Youngho said. “He’s...isn't kinda out of your league?” He’s like, _really_ popular.”

“Sadly, apparently not,” Yuta said. “He wants to go out with me. Maybe he sees some untapped popularity potential in me. If so, I vote for not taping it. It can stay right where it is, thanks.”

“ _Ten_ wants to go out with you?” Youngho said. Taeyong was relieved but he did not appreciate Youngho’s shocked tone of voice. Why wouldn't anyone go out with Yuta?

“Yup,” Yuta said. “He informed me of this through a long ass message.”

“No way,” Taeyong said.

“See yourself.” Yuta pulled his phone out of his back jean pocket.

_Hey Yuta, have you ever wondered what it would be like to date the hottest guy in school? I bet you have. I could tell you were thinking about it when I got lemonade from you at my sister’s graduation ceremony. You were thinking, “If only Ten would ever date me.” Well, I have decided that I would need a boyfriend and here are the reasons we would be the perfect couple:_

_our heights would match perfectly_  
We’ll both be at the day camp  
We’re both cute and popular

_I imagine this feels like winning the lottery, doesn't it? Not that I'd notice if I did, since I'm already so rich, but I'm guessing you would, and it would be like just as way exciting as this. I’ll meet you tomorrow at the front gate of the day camp so we can make our entrance together. Then I’ll also decreed you on the Rules of Dating Ten. How awesome will this be? Xxx._

“Oh, Yuta,” Taeyong passed Yuta’s phone on to Youngho, “How can you resist?”

“I know,” Yuta said. “It's better than winning the lottery. It's like winning the lottery and falling down a well and being vomited on by the Ilama all the same time.”

Taeyong laughed. “So he's going to be at the day camp, too?” Does he play soccer?” _Lord, please don't let him be in the Beginners class with me. Please find some other horrible way of torturing me instead._

“Nope,” Yuta said. _Oh, thank goodness_ , Taeyong thought.

“This is crazy” Youngho said as he passed the phone back to Yuta.

“Ten does anything he wants,” Yuta said. “Which is why you guys have to save me. I can't date him! First, it'll be painful and agonising. He'll make me carry his things and bring him sodas and buy him stuff, and then he'll yell at me when I do anything wrong, and then he'll make fun of me to all his friends behind my back, and then he’ll dump me and tell everyone what a dork I am and I'll never get a date in this town ever again, I may not be the world’s most popular guy, but this will ruin me for the rest of high school. Remember what he did to Doyoung? Or Lucas? No, you don't, because once he was through them, they disappeared from everyone’s minds. Forever.”

“However,” Youngho said, “He is really hot.”

“Ew, Youngho!” Taeyong said, smacking his shoulder.

“He is!” Youngho said, “Right, Yuta?”

Yuta shrugged. “I guess he's okay. Not my type.”

“Not your — seriously?”

“Personally, I would've stayed single,” Yuta said. “And did you miss the part about ‘Rules of Dating Ten’? Does that sound like fun to you? Man, I knew I shouldn't have met his eyes when he came up to get lemonade. I shouldn't have agreed to work concessions stand at graduation in the first place.” He slid his phone into his pocket and crossed his arms over his face.

“Can't you just say no?” Youngho said.

“Even I know the answer to that,” Taeyong said. “Nobody says no to Ten.” Taeyong understood exactly what Yuta was worried about. He'd been avoiding Ten since elementary school. If you stayed far under his radar, you could slip by unnoticed and unharmed, but if you popped into his line of sight in any way, he would rip you to shreds with one flick of his nails.

“Doomed,” Yuta muttered. “Doooomed.”

“All right,” Youngho said. “Tell him you already have a boyfriend.”

Yuta thought for a minute. “Like, long distance? I don't think that he'll buy that. Plus it's only been a week since school ended. Where would I have picked up a boyfriend in a week?”

“I dunno,” Youngho shrugged. “You could tell him you're dating Taeyong.”

Taeyong was so, so, _so_ glad that Youngho had his eyes glued to the camera controls and didn't see his expression. Yuta kept his arms over his face, so he didn't notice either. He felt like he might faint. There was a really awkward pause, and Taeyong wondered if he was supposed to make a joke here.

He started to say, “As if—” at the same time as Yuta said, “Well I —” and they both stopped.

“What were you going say?” he asked. He put his arms down and tilted his head back to look at Taeyong.

“I'm, just..as if he'll believe that.”

“Why?” Youngho said. Taeyong wished Yuta would say something but he kept looking at him.

“Well, if you think Ten is out of his league, then I'm in another solar system, aren't I?” he tried to joke.

“Actually, it might work,” Yuta said. Taeyong bit his tongue, he was so surprised.

“Sure it will,” Youngho said. “Tae will be at the day camp, too, so Ten can see you're together. And it's only for a little while, until Ten gets over you. And it's not like there's anyone Taeyong wants to date, so you're hardly putting a dent in his love life, right Tae?”

_That's nice. Thanks, Youngho._

“What do you say, Tae?” Yuta asked, rolling over onto his stomach and propping his elbows on the floor and his chin in his hands adorably. “Want to be my pretend boyfriend?” His eyes were like storm clouds, big, unstoppable and irresistible.

_Taeyong, this is what you've been dreaming about. Correction: This is a strange parody of what you've been dreaming about. Is this what you really want? Being Yuta’s pretend boyfriend?  
Yes, sure okay! Close enough._

“Okay,” he said, feeling dizzy. “I mean it'll be tough pretending to like you, but I guess I can take one for the team. Right?”

“You're my knight in shining armor,” Yuta said, getting up and kneeling on the couch next to him. _Right_ next to him. “My hero, my warrior prince.” he said, taking Taeyong’s hand. “My King Kong.” He pressed Taeyong’s hand to his heart. Taeyong could actually feel it beating through the soft fabric of his shirt. It was going really fast. Nearly as fast as Taeyong’s, but Yuta was an athlete, so it probably went that fast all the time.

“Okay, here are the Rules of Pretend Dating Taeyong,” he said. “You need to stop comparing me to a giant gorilla.”

“What are the other rules?” he asked. He was still holding Taeyong’s hand against his chest.

“That's the only one,” he said. Was his voice shaking? Could Yuta tell? “So far. I'll keep you posted as others come up.”

He grinned. “I'll look forward to it.”

“Okay,” Youngho said, standing up. “I think I've figured out how to change it to night recording. Let's go test in the shed.” He picked up a flashlight and headed for the stairs. Taeyong couldn't believe his own twin brother hadn't noticed how much he was blushing. He wanted to stay where he was forever, but he pulled his hand free and scrambled off the couch.

“Great, okay,” Taeyong said. “Sounds like fun.” He looked back from the doorway. “Coming, Yuta?”

“You bet,” he said, standing up and stretching. “Where my boyfriend goes, I go.”

Taeyong shivered.

_I always thought my first boyfriend would be Yuta. But I never thought it would only be pretend…_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading the first chapter of my very first yutae story and for leaving beautiful comments! I really appreciate them all. Enjoy reading the next chapter! ^^

  
The next morning, Taeyong was sitting on the front door of Lee’s house, tracing shapes in the dew with his sneaker, when Yuta’s bike appeared at the end of the block.

“Bye,” Youngho said from the doorway. Ruby, their puppy, pressed his face against the screen door next to him and made a sad noise. “Have fun.”

“Yeah, right,” Taeyong said. “ _You’re_ the one who’s going to have fun. I wish I could stay at home all day, too.”

Youngho nodded, looking down at the ground. Mrs. Lee came up behind him and swung open the screen door. Ruby trotted out and nosed Taeyong’s ankle.

“Hey,” Yuta said, skidding to a stop in the driveway. “Ready to go, Taeyong?” He was glad Yuta didn’t make a boyfriend joke in front of his mom. That would have been tough to explain.

“Sure,” Taeyong swung onto his bike. “Bye, Youngho.”

Taeyong had hardly been able to sleep all night. What was going to happen that day? What did being a pretend boyfriend mean? What would people think? Who would Yuta tell? He had no idea how to act around a real boyfriend, let alone a pretend one.

The wind whipped his hair back from his face as they coasted down the hill to the stop sign. Taeyong could feel Yuta glancing over at him, and he wondered whether he looked like a sweaty mess already. As they paused at the corner, waiting for a car to pass, suddenly Yuta leaned over and put one hand over his on the handlebars. Taeyong froze. He wanted Yuta to leave it there, but he didn’t want to seem obvious.

“Taeyong,” he said. Taeyong loved the way Yuta said his name.  
“Yeah?”  
“Are you okay? You look nervous.”  
“Well,”Taeyong said. “You know, soccer. Me and sports, a bad combination.” _Wow, could I sound like a bigger dork?_

“You don’t have to do this,” he said. “If you don’t want to. It’s okay. I can find another way to get rid of Ten.”  
“Oh, that?” Taeyong said with a nervous laugh. “I’m not worried about that. Seriously. Um. It’s the soccer. Nerve-wrecking soccer.” _Oh, and maybe the fact that I’m alone with Yuta. No Youngho. No Taeil. Just me and Yuta._

“If you’re sure,” he said, taking his hand back to his own handlebars. Taeyong took a deep breath.

“Besides, didn’t you reply to Ten’s message already? We wouldn’t want him to think I got sick of you that fast.” Taeyong said and tried to smile.

“True,” Yuta said with a grin. “Okay, but just remember I really appreciate this.” He lifted up and pedaled ahead and it took Taeyong a minute to recover enough to follow Yuta.

Summerlodge, the summer camp, was down a winding road. The camp had a pool, tennis and basketball courts, sports fields, and a large barn indoor activities when it rained. A couple of different summer programmes used the camp, but the one Taeyong and Yuta were doing was soccer.

As they coasted into the parking lot, Taeyong spotted a thin figure in white leaning against the big Summerlodge sign.

“Uh-oh,” Yuta murmured.  
“I thought you told him,” Taeyong said. “Didn’t you reply to his message?”  
“I did,” Yuta said. “He didn’t write back. Maybe he didn’t get it.”

Taeyong felt an anvil of cold dread settle into his stomach. He’d spent much time thinking about how to pretend to be Yuta’s boyfriend that he’d completely forgotten about what Ten might do to him. Stealing Ten’s chosen - that definitely didn’t qualify as staying under his radar.

“Just ignore him,” Yuta said.  
“Very funny,” said Taeyong.

They got off their bikes and rolled them into the bike rack. As Taeyong knelt to wrap his lock through the front wheel, he heard Ten’s footsteps coming closer, as if an elegant angel of death approaching.

“Hi, Yuta,” Ten said.  
“Hey, Ten,” Yuta said. How did he sound so casual?  
“This is my boyfriend, Taeyong.”

Taeyong’s hands were shaking, so he could barely clip his lock into place, but he finally snapped it in and stood up. Ten was studying Taeyong with narrow eyes.

“Lee Taeyong,” Ten said slowly. “I have seen you before.” He narrowed his eyes even more. “I thought you moved away in elementary school.”

_Nope, I just got quieter and better at staying out of your way._

“Guess not,” Yuta said when Taeyong didn’t respond. “Lucky for me.”

Taeyong could barely breathe, he was so nervous. Could Ten tell that they were just pretending? What would he do if he figured it out?

“Hey guys!” Jungwoo interrupted. Jungwoo was one of the most popular boys in school and he was handsome, quite tall (taller than Ten at least), had a really nice body proportion. Also, he’s Ten’s best friend. “Hey, Ten,” Jungwoo said as he came up.

  
“Jungwoo,” Ten said with a note of scandalised disapproval in his voice. “You remember Yuta,” he said meaningfully. “This is his _boyfriend_.”

Jungwoo squinted at Taeyong. “No way. I didn’t know you guys were dating.”

“Um yeah,” Taeyong said. “It’s new.”  
“Really?” Ten said. “When did you guys get together?”  
“Last Wednesday,” Yuta said. “Friday,” Taeyong said at the same time.

Ten’s eyebrows shot up.

“I asked him on Wednesday,” Yuta said quickly, “but he didn’t say yes until Friday.”  
“Oh, how cute,” Ten said in a tone that sounded more like “oh, how repulsive.”

“How did he ask you?” Jungwoo asked. He sounded more interested than Ten. “Was it adorable? Or was it weird?”

_Hmm, let’s see. I think I’d have to go with weird._

“You know,” Yuta said, perhaps sensing Taeyong’s panic. “I just asked him. No big deal. We should go in, shouldn’t we?” He started forward and Ten stopped him with one hand on his chest. Looking straight at Taeyong, he drapped himself over Yuta’s shoulder.

“Oh, Yuta,” Ten said in a teasing, aren’t-we-all-friends-here way. “He never cares about the details. To get the real story, we have to ask Taeyong. Right, Tae? So tell us the details. I want to hear every single thing.”

“It’s totally boring,” Yuta said “And we’re going to be late.”

“We have a few minutes,” Ten said, resting his other hand on Yuta’s arm so both hands were holding Yuta in place. “Unless there’s some reason you don’t want Taeyong to tell the story, Yuta.”

Yuta and Taeyong exchanged glances. Taeyong’s mind said, _He totally knows we’re lying._ Yuta’s mind said _Help! What do we do?_

Taeyong took a deep breath. Well, he had imagined Yuta asking him out a thousand times. He could describe the perfect scene pretty easily.

“Um,” he said. “It was Wednesday night. I decided to walk Ruby - he’s my dog - to the park on the corner. When I came out, Yuta was there. He looked like he’d been waiting for a while, thinking about ringing the doorbell. I thought that was weird, but he asked if he could come to the park, I said sure. We walked up to the park and sat on a bench. Then he put something in my hand,” Taeyong had imagined it so many times it was like it was real in his head. He could practically see the expression of Yuta’s face in the moonlight.

“I looked down, and it was this little origami whale. On one side it said, ‘Taeyong…’ And when I turned it over, the other side said ‘...will you be my boyfriend?’” Taeyong continued.

“Omo,” Jungwoo said. “This is the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.”  
“How could you read it in the moonlight?” Ten said suspiciously.

  
“There are, um, lights in the park,” Taeyong said, jolted back to reality. He glanced nervously at Yuta, but he couldn’t figure out the look on Yuta’s face. Was he freaked out? Did he think it was weird that he had come up with that whole story off the top of his head?

“Oh,” Ten said. “Well. That’s sweet.” He shoved Yuta away from him. “I don’t know why you didn’t want to tell us that story, Yuta.”

“Oh, but Taeyong, you waited until Friday to say yes?” Ten asked. Taeyong felt like he was being interrogated. The bright lights and water torture couldn’t be far off.

“Um. I guess I was nervous,” Taeyong said. “I haven’t - I mean, Yuta’s my first -” he faltered. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t say, “Yuta’s my boyfriend.”

“The important thing is he did say yes,” Yuta said smoothly. He put one arm around Taeyong’s shoulders and used his other hand to wrap Taeyong’s arm around his waist. “Now that you have all the details you need for an in-depth encyclopedia on the subject, may we please get to camp, Ten- _ssi_?”

Ten lifted his chin up. “Of course,” he said “Come on, Jungwoo.” They swept on ahead, down the path leading to the check-in booth.

Taeyong’s heart was racing. Yuta’s whole side was pressed against his, and his bare arm was resting lightly on Taeyong’s shoulders, and Taeyong’s arm could feel the muscles in Yuta’s back through his shirt, and it didn’t seem possible that Taeyong could be confused and scared and thrilled at the same time.

“Wait,” Yuta whispered, curling his hand around Taeyong’s shoulder until Ten and Jungwoo were out of earshot. As soon as they were, he nudged Taeyong forward keeping his arm in place. “Tae, that was amazing.”

“Oh,” Taeyong said, turning pink. “It wasn’t anything special.”  
“Seriously?” Yuta said. “I couldn’t believe it. I wish I were that cool.”  
Taeyong started giggling.

As they reached the check-in counter, Yuta took his arm from around Taeyong’s shoulders and leaned over to sign in. Taeyong glanced around and stopped laughing. Ten was standing halfway down the path to the swimming pool, his arms folded so his elbows were sharp points at his side. Taeyong could practically feel his freezing glare from there.

This wasn’t over. Ten wanted Yuta, and he thought Taeyong was the one standing in his way. The question was, what was Ten going to do about it?

                   ------------

The good news was that the Advanced Soccer class was on a different set of courts, so Yuta couldn’t see how terribly Taeyong played. The bad news was that Jungwoo was in Beginners with Taeyong, except he was good, and Taeyong really was terrible. Jungwoo’s kicking skills were smooth and how he always kept connected with the ball. Him and the ball were like magnets. Taeyong kept letting go of the ball, he kept missing the ball to the targeted goal. He was pretty sure that Jungwoo was laughing at him.

By lunchtime, Taeyong’s legs ached due to running. He was so relieved when the instructor let them go, he didn’t even care that now he’d have to face Yuta and Ten again. Taeyong was gathering his stuff when a voice said, “Hey,” behind him, and he jumped.

“Sorry to startle you,” Jungwoo said. “I just wanted to say, don’t worry, you’ll get better. I was pretty bad when I started. I’m still not good enough for Intermediate or Advanced.” Taeyong couldn’t think of anything interesting to say.

“Um, thanks.” He managed.

Jungwoo kept looking at Taeyong, as if he was thinking, _How did a boy like you snag Nakamoto Yuta._ Taeyong thought, _I’ll answer that if you can tell me why you agreed to be best friends with the scariest guy in school._

“Well?”  
“Well what?”  
“Aren’t you starving? Let’s go for lunch.”

_Let’s? As in “let us”? Us? Me and Kim Jungwoo? There’s an us there?_

Taeyong followed Jungwoo up the walkway to a bunch of picnic tables under the trees. Yuta was already sitting at a table, unwrapping his lunch. His hair was half-wet and drying in the sun, so it was kind of spiky and darker than usual. That day his shirt was red, making himself look manlier than he was. He saw Taeyong and waved.

“Wow,” Jungwoo said. “Did you see his face light up when he saw you? That’s so cute.”

 _Yeah. I guess Yuta’s really a good actor,_ Taeyong thought.

Taeyong hesitantly went over to Yuta’s table. See, this is why Youngho should be there. He’d know exactly who to sit with and how. And if he wanted to spend lunch time reading his book, he wouldn’t mind. But of course, he had to sit with Yuta, right?

He set his lunch down on the table, opposite Yuta, and Yuta immediately reached out and grabbed it. “Sit next to me,” Yuta whispered. “Or else he _will_.”

Taeyong looked up and saw Ten heading purposely their way. He scooted quickly around the end of the table and managed to sit down next to Yuta just before Ten plunked his tray down on the table.

“Oh, Yuta,” Ten said, ignoring Taeyong, “I saw you playing soccer when I went by the the field earlier. You are so talented.”

“Thanks,” Yuta said, opening Taeyong’s lunch box. “Here, Tae,” Yuta said, and Taeyong realised Yuta was saying his name a lot more than usual. Yuta broke his cookie in half and handed Taeyong the bigger portion. Taeyong met Yuta’s eyes as he handed him the cookie. Taeyong couldn’t help himself from smiling at him.

“So what are young going to do for your afternoon activity? Yuta asked Taeyong. He realised there were sign-up sheets on all the tables. The list of choices included more soccer (no, thanks), Ultimate Frisbee (maybe if I were 8 years old), pool volleyball (definitely a no) and archery. Sadly, going home and playing video games with Youngho was not on the list.

“I don’t know,” Taeyong said. “None of this is my idea of fun, I guess Frisbee sounds the least painful.

“Really?” Ten pounced. “I thought for sure you’d want to be with your boyfriend. Unless you don’t really wanna hang out with him, but I’m sure that’s not true.”

Taeyong gave Yuta a confused look, and he tapped ARCHERY with one finger. “I’m a team captain,” he said, “Mrs. Kim - the woman in charge of field activities - asked me to because I’ve had trained archery with her before.”

“Oh,” he said. Now what? He stuck with Frisbee, he wouldn’t be acting like a real boyfriend, would he?

“Come on,” Yuta said, taking one of Taeyong’s hands in both of his. “It’ll be fun.”

“You don’t really want me on your team. I’m totally horrible.” Taeyong said.

“I know,” Yuta said. “I want you on the other guy’s team.” Taeyong swatted Yuta with his free hand. “That is no way to talk to your boyfriend,” he said, forgetting for a moment that Ten was right there, intently watching them.

“You’re right,” Yuta said. “My apologies, honey. I’ll never do that again. Is that better?” Taeyong wrinkled his nose at him. “I feel so edible all of a sudden.”

“Cute enough to eat,” Yuta said. Taeyong looked down at the table, turning pink again. Yuta didn’t have to overact quite so much. Ten would catch on if he kept being ridiculous.

“Adorable,” Jungwoo said, shaking his head. “I aspire to be that adorable.”

Ten stood up, grabbed Jungwoo’s arm and yanked him away. As they hurried off, Taeyong heard Ten whisper, “ _Nauseating_ ,” just loudly enough for Taeyong to hear. Taeyong pulled his hand free and wrapped the remains of his sandwich. Now that they were gone, how was he supposed to act?

“I think it’s going well,” said Yuta. “Don’t you?”

“Um, sure,” Taeyong said. _In the sense of me not being literally dead yet, anyway._

“You don’t really have to do archery if you don’t want to,” Yuta said.

“That’s okay,” Taeyong replied. “I’m sure it’ll be fun.”

“Have I said thank you for this? Because seriously, thank you for this!” Yuta said

“I’m not sure I’m helping. He’s still paying attention to you,” said Taeyong.

“I’m sure he’ll get over it soon. You won’t have to pretend for much longer.” Yuta said.

_So instead of pretending to date you...I can go back to pretending I don’t like you. Taeyong sighed. When do I finally get to stop pretending?_

                  ----------

As Taeyong waited at the field where the archery was going to be held, he saw that most of the Beginners soccer class hard signed up for archery, too, including Jungwoo.

Yuta was standing with a couple of freshmen talking and pointing to the targets, but when he spotted Taeyong, he broke off and came over to him.

 _How can he look so good with that arm guard around his forearm?_ Taeyong thought.

“Hey,” he said with a smile. “Long time no see.”

Before Taeyong could say anything, Mrs Kim blew a whistle around her neck and made them all gather. Then she spent forty-five minutes explaining all the rules of archery as well as how to play the game.

Finally she called the team captains forward and read off their assigned teams. Taeyong couldn't believe his luck — he was on Yuta’s team! As he headed over, Yuta high-fived him and winked.

“Did you make that happen?” Taeyong whispered. “Of course,” Yuta said. “Mrs Kim likes me. She's hoping I'll work here as a trainer once soccer camp is over.”

Best of all, Ten had to be a team captain and Jungwoo wound up on a third team, so Taeyong and Yuta didn't have to get too close to them for the rest of the day.

There were six teams, so four teams would match while the other two played each other, and then they'd switch around. As Mrs Kim explained it, they'd practice a week, and then they'd have a tournament the next week to crown a winning team. Taeyong realised that that meant he'd signed up for two weeks of archery. He wouldn't get to switch to something else — like Frisbee — until the two weeks were up. Well, maybe Ten would be over Yuta by then.

To his surprise, archery was much more fun than he'd expected, although he kept missing the target but once he managed to shoot the arrow in the right direction a couple of times, and each time he did, Yuta yelled, “Yeah!”

Taeyong’s turn to shoot came up. He balanced the bow on one hand and tried to remember what he'd learned from Mrs Kim during her briefing.

“Here,” Yuta said, coming up beside Taeyong. “Hold this arm out straight.” He took Taeyong’s left arm and straightened it out. “Now keep that arm straight while you shoot it with your other hand.” He reached around behind Taeyong and touched Taeyong's right shoulder.

The combination of his hands, and Taeyong's arms made Taeyong so nervous, he shot and sent the arrow out of the target.

“Don't worry,” Yuta said, squeezing Taeyong’s shoulder. “You'll get it next time.”

 _Not if you keep helping me like that, I won't!_ Taeyong thought, but the truth was he'd rather be that close to Yuta than shoot the arrow into the crowd.

Finally, finally the end of the day came. Taeyong didn't want to face Ten and Jungwoo so he headed straight out to the bikes while waiting for Yuta who was having a small meeting with Mrs Kim.

A stranger was leaning against the rack, next to Taeyong’s bike. He'd never seen the stranger before, which probably meant the person either was new or went to one of the private schools in town.

“Hey,” the stranger said with a lazy, crooked smile. He had amazingly straight white teeth. His hair was light (close to blonde) and his eyes were dark brown.

“Um, hi,” Taeyong said. “Sorry, that's — um, that's my bike.”

“Oh, sorry,” he said, moving aside. Taeyong knelt to unlock it, hoping Yuta would come out soon.

“I'm Jaehyun,” he said. “I'm just waiting for my brother. Do you go here?”

“Summerlodge?” Taeyong said. “Yeah. I'm doing the soccer camp.”

“Huh,” he said. His eyes had this faraway, dreamy look and Taeyong couldn't tell if Jaehyun was really listening to him until he turned and smiled at Taeyong again. His smile, which showed his deep dimple, could really catch everyone’s attention, even if that person had a pretend boyfriend he was totally in love with.

“Is it cool?” he said, but kept going without waiting for an answer. “Soccer. Man, I'm bad at soccer.”

“Me too,” Taeyong said. “It's —”  
“What did you say your name was?” Jaehyun asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. He was wearing jeans and sleeveless white shirt.

“I didn't,” Taeyong said. “Um, It's Taeyong.” He unwrapped the chain from his bike wheel and stashed it in his shoulder bag. He tried to move as slowly as he could without looking like a mentally challenged alien. He really, really wished Yuta would show up. Or else he'd have to stay and make conversation with this strange guy, because of course he couldn't leave without Yuta, could he? That wasn't a boyfriendy thing to do.

“Taeyong,” Jaehyun said.  
“Hey, Taeyong,” Yuta said from behind him. Taeyong had forgotten to keep watching for him, but his heart still leaped into double times as Yuta paused next to him. His shirt was slightly damp from his wet hair.

“Who's this?” Yuta asked. His gaze was fixed on Jaehyun, and he didn't look too friendly.

“This is Jaehyun,” Taeyong said, wondering why his voice sounded higher than normal. “We just met. He's waiting for someone.”

“Oh,” Yuta said. Jaehyun reached out his hand and Yuta shook it, the tendons in his arm tending like he was slamming a hammer down.

“And you are?” Jaehyun said.  
“Yuta.” Pause. “Taeyong's boyfriend.”

Taeyong was astonished. Why on earth did he say that? Ten was nowhere in sight. There was no one around to run back and report to Ten. There was no reason at all to volunteer that information as far as Taeyong could see. Not that he minded, but it was odd.

“Ah,” Jaehyun said.  
“We’d better get going, Taeyong,” Yuta said, touching Taeyong's bike but not looking at him.

“Yeah, okay,” Taeyong said. He pulled his bike free and stood for a moment awkwardly, waiting for Yuta to unlock his bike. Jaehyun was still watching Taeyong.

As Yuta rolled his bike free, Taeyong swung onto his and said, “Well, see you.”

“Nice to meet you, Tae,” Jaehyun said. He gave him the smile again, and Taeyong ducked his head and pushed off.

Yuta was quiet all the way back to Taeyong's house. Taeyong felt the wind blowing his hair dry and he wondered what Yuta was thinking. At the bottom of Taeyong’s driveway, Yuta braked but stayed straddling his bike.

“Don't you want to come in?” Taeyong said. “We can make fun of my lazy slug brother.”

“Nah, not today,” Yuta said. “I've got stuff to do. Tell him I say hi.”

“Oh, okay,” Taeyong said.

Yuta ran his hand along the top of his hair, looking like he was going to say something else, but in the end he just stood up on his pedals and rode away. Taeyong watched Yuta ride to the end of the block, where he glanced back and waved at Taeyong, and then Taeyong rolled his bike and went into the house.

Youngho was lying on the floor in front of the couch, where Taeyong had expected him to be. As he went into the den, Youngho quickly slid something underneath a pile of cushions.

“What was that?” Taeyong said.  
“What?” he said, pretending to be focused on a plate on the coffee table. “Here, mom made snacks. It's basically peanut butter on celery, but cut into slices so it's prettier and harder to eat. Have you ever noticed that she's weird?”

“Youngho-ah, come on,” Taeyong said, flopping down on the couch. “What were you hiding when I came in?”

“Nothing,” he said. “Where's Yuta?”

Taeyong was hurt. Johnny never kept anything from him. What could it be?

“Yuta decided not to come in, but he says hi” Taeyong waited for a minute, but Youngho kept moving the celery around the plate without saying anything.

“So…did you have fun today?” Taeyong tried. “Soccer was so lame. I'm a total menace with a soccer ball. What did you do?”

“Nothing,” Youngho said again. “I’ll bet,” Taeyong said, reaching the remote control and flipping the TV to their favourite game.

To his surprise, none of the scores had changed. Either Youngho hadn't played very well that day, or hadn't played at all.

“Was Ten there?” Youngho asked.  
“Of course,” Taeyong said. “He's so scary. And now he seriously hates me.”

“But he's really hot,” Youngho said. “I don't get why Yuta wouldn't just date him. I would, if I weren't too stupid and boring for him to like. It sounds a lot easier than pretending to date you.”

“Oh, thanks!” Taeyong said, pushing himself off the couch. He headed for the door in a huff, but Youngho didn't stop him. In the doorway, Taeyong turned and glanced back. Youngho was staring down at the table rolling a pencil absentmindedly back and forth along the carpet.

His mom was coming down the stairs and Taeyong went up. “Oh, Taeyong!” Mrs Lee said happily. “How was Summerlodge? Did you have such a lovely time? It wasn't so bad without your brother, was it?”

“It was terrible, like I thought it would be,” Taeyong said. “And I think something's wrong with Youngho. I'm going to take shower.”

His mom looked disappointed, but she stepped aside without pressing more soccer details.

In Taeyong's room, he laid down on his bed, feeling tired. It was kind of exhausting being a pretend boyfriend. First there were Ten and Jungwoo; then there was all complicated Yuta stuff, plus that guy Jaehyun; and now Youngho was acting strange and keeping secrets. He felt all mixed up, with no one to talk about it.

_And it starts all over again tomorrow._

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Came back with the new chapter. I'm sorry if Ten and Jaehyun's characters here seem to be a bit off lol. 
> 
> Is Jungwoo really that innocent or just pretending to be one? Harhar
> 
> Anyways, thank you for leaving comments and kudos! xx

The next day was even stranger than Taeyong had expected, mainly because there was a surprise newcomer to his soccer class. The newcomer was leaning against the fence as Taeyong walked up, kicking the ball.

“Hey, Tae!” Jaehyun said enthusiastically. “Where’s your boyfriend?”

Taeyong nearly said, “Who?” but remembered in time. “He’s in the Advanced class,” he said. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, you made these soccer lessons sound so fun,” he said with his smile that showed his dimple. “I figured I’d sign up and join in.”

“I did?” Taeyong tried to remember anything he had said that might possibly have been misunderstood as “soccer is fun.”

“Sure,” Jaehyun said. “And plus, maybe if you’re as bad as I am, we can be team members.”

Jungwoo was on the field already, warming up. Taeyong wasn’t sure, but he got the feeling that Jungwoo was watching him and Jaehyun.

“Are you sure? There’s a lot of running around especially when you play with me.” Taeyong said worriedly.

“Don’t worry,” Jaehyun said, smiling again. “I’ll be fine,”

He was right. He was quite good, but he was sweating so much that his shirt stuck to his back and he looked exhausted. Taeyong felt bad for him, so he tried to be the one to run after the ball as much as possible.

Finally, for the last hour, Mr. Jung switched the players and he was teamed up with Jungwoo, but Jaehyun seemed disappointed that they were split up. Taeyong glanced over at Jaehyun a couple of times and caught Jaehyun watching him instead of the soccer ball he was supposed to be watching.

“Hey,” Jungwoo said during a break for water. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

It was funny how a simple sentence like that could make a person so nervous. Taeyong screwed the cap back on his water bottle, trying to look calm.

“This Friday,” Jungwoo went on, “would you and Yuta want to go on a double date with me and Lucas?”

Lucas, yes. Ten set them up.

“Really?” Taeyong said. That was about the furthest thing from what he’d expected Jungwoo to say. A double date? A real date? With Ten’s best friend? _Maybe that’s_ why, the voice in his head whispered. _Ten’s assigned him to spy on us. To see if Yuta and I still act like a couple away from Summerlodge. So I have to say yes, don’t I?_

“Um,” he said, hedging. “Let me ask Yuta. But thanks, that sounds fun.”

“It would be fun! I was thinking we could have dinner at the diner across the street.” Jungwoo said.

Taeyong would have agreed, but Mr. Jung called them back to the field to keep practicing.

On the way to lunch, Jaehyun caught up with Taeyong and Jungwoo.

“Hi, I’m Jungwoo,”  
“Jaehyun,” he said.  
“Oh, Taeyong-ah,” Jungwoo said, “I forgot to mention, don’t say anything to Ten about our double date. I’ll tell him later, but he can be weird about stuff like that.”

 _Clever_ , Taeyong thought. _Make me think Ten doesn’t know about it when he’s really the one who masterminded the whole thing_.

“No problem,” Taeyong said.  
“Double date?” Jaehyun said.  
“Maybe,” Taeyong answered. “I have to check with Yuta.”  
“Oh, right your boyfriend.”

They got in sight of the tables, and once again, Yuta was already there. He raised his hand to wave to Taeyong but stopped when he saw Jaehyun.

“There he is,” Jaehyun said.  
“You can, um, join with us if you want to,” Taeyong said.  
“Great, thanks!” Jaehyun headed off toward the lunch line.

Jungwoo raised his eyebrows at Taeyong and followed him. Taeyong wondered if that was a code expression that a normal person would have been able to translate. With a sigh, Taeyong headed over to Yuta.

This time he remembered to sit next to Yuta instead of across from him. He smiled at Taeyong as Taeyong sat down, and it was such a different smile from Jaehyun’s. It made him calmer instead of more nervous, and it said, _I’m happy to see you_ , instead of, _I know something about you_. Yuta smelled sharp and clean, like apple shampoo.

“Hi there, Yongie,” he said as Taeyong sat down. Taeyong wondered how long he was going to find that funny, but he liked the way Yuta said his name, kind of warm and teasing at the same time. Taeyong was glad to see Yuta seemed to be in a better mood than he had been when he’d dropped Taeyong off the day before.

“Hey,” Yuta added, “you’re wearing the necklace I got you.” He reached out and touched one of the glass beads. His fingers brushed the side of Taeyong’s neck like a whisper of wind, and Taeyong’s heart sped up. Hadn’t he ever noticed that Taeyong wore it all the time?

“Yeah,” he said, awkwardly. “I love it.”

“That looks so good on you,” he said, removing his hand. “What do you have for lunch today?”

“Like always, rice..kimchi..?” Taeyong said in a cute way that made Yuta laugh. But then his face changed, closing down again. Taeyong turned to see Jaehyun sitting down on the other side of him.

“Hi,” Yuta said. “I thought you didn’t go here”  
“I do now,” Jaehyun said. “Hello again, Taeyong’s boyfriend.”

Ten and Jungwoo plunked their trays down on the other side of the table, and Taeyong was almost pleased to see them. He felt a weird tension between Yuta and Jaehyun, and sitting in between them made him nervous.

“Hi there,” Ten said, leaning towards Jaehyun like a leopard sniffing out prey. “I’m Ten.”  
“Hey, Ten,” Jaehyun said.  
“I heard you’re doing soccer.” Ten continued.  
“Yeah, well, I just started today,” Jaehyun said  
“I see. And what’s your name?” Ten asked.  
“Jaehyun,” he said “What’s yours?”

Ten wrinkled his nose like he was trying to hide his real expression. “I already told you,” he said. “It’s Ten.”

“Oh, right,” Jaehyun said. He gave Taeyong a smirk.

“Hey,” Taeyong said, turning to Yuta, trying to distract himself from the look that Jaehyun gave him. “Um, Yuta. I forgot to get a drink. Want to come with me to...um..buy one?

Yuta looked confused. When he paused, Jaehyun jumped in. “I’ll come with you,” he said.  
“No, that’s okay,” Yuta said. “I can buy my own boyfriend a drink, thanks.” He took Taeyong’s hand and tugged him away from the bench. Yuta’s hand was cooler than Taeyong’s, and much bigger and muscular.

“What kind do you want?” Yuta said.  
“Orange juice,” he said. “I can pay for it, Yuta.”  
“No, no,” he said, waving Taeyong’s hand away. “Let me, since I don’t have a cookie to split with you today.” He grinned at Taeyong, then glanced over Taeyong’s shoulder, back at the table. “I don’t like that guy,” he said.  
“Jaehyun?” Taeyong said. “Why?”  
“Well, why didn’t he start soccer camp at the same time as the rest of us?” Yuta said. “Why doesn’t he have any of his own friends?”  
“But he seems nice though,” Taeyong said.  
“Hmm,” Yuta said, turning to head back.  
“Wait,” Taeyong said, catching Yuta’s sleeve. “Actually, I needed to ask you something.”  
“What is it about?” Yuta asked.

Taeyong told him about Jungwoo’s double date offer. “I know it’s strange, maybe we could tell him you already have plans, or something?”

“Are you sure?” Yuta said. “I think it could be fun, don’t you?”  
“Oh,” Taeyong said. “well, I mean, if you —"  
“Why not, right?”  
“But with Jungwoo and Lucas?”  
“Well, if you don’t want to, I can totally say no for us, I’m sure you don’t want to go on your first date with a guy who’s just a friend, like me, right?” Yuta was looking at Taeyong intently. You have no idea, I want to go on my first date with you, plus every other date for the rest of my life, Taeyong thought.

“No, I mean sure,” Taeyong said. “We can go. Let’s do it. Besides, if Ten is behind it, this should help convince him we’re really dating, right?”

“Right,” Yuta said. “That’s why we’re doing this of course.”

When they got back to the table, Ten was explaining his lifeguard training for volleyball to Jaehyun, who looked fascinated. Jungwoo looked bored, but when Taeyong caught his eyes, and gave him thumbs-up, his face brightened.

“I’ll text you,” he mouthed while Ten wasn’t looking.

The afternoon went a lot like the previous afternoon, except that Jaehyun joined archery and was put on Ten’s team. He turned out to be a lot better than what Taeyong had expected. He made a lot of perfect scores, which made everyone cheer for him. Whenever he saw Taeyong watching him, he gave his smile.

At the end of the day, Yuta hustled out and caught up to Taeyong who was still on the path to the bikes.

“Hey,” Taeyong said. “That was fast.”  
“Mrs. Kim cancelled the meeting because she had something to be done.” Yuta said. “By the way, I bumped into Jaehyun just now. That guy was annoying me. He keeps asking questions about our relationship, like how long we’ve been dating and stuff.”  
“Really?” Taeyong said. “That’s weird. I wonder why.”  
“I know right,” Yuta said, spinning the combination lock on his bike. “Weird. Let’s go before he comes out.”

As they rode back to Taeyong’s house, he wondered if he should talk to Yuta about Youngho. Maybe Yuta could help him figure out what was wrong with his twin brother. He decided to wait and see if Yuta noticed anything himself. But when Yuta came inside with him, Youngho seemed more cheerful than he had the day before. The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon trying to set up and film gory special effects from a book Yuta had found. It didn’t work very well; they ended up with ketchup all over the kitchen and several bits of carrot that didn’t look anything like severed fingers.

“Better luck tomorrow,” Yuta said, heading out the door. “See you in the morning, Taeyong.” Taeyong stood in front of the door and waved as he pedaled away.

 _Beep_. Taeyong was surprised to see ‘Jungwoo’ popped on his phone screen.

**_10:34 pm_ **

_Hey, Taeyong! So let’s figure out Friday. Lucas’ being a pain about it because he’s going on a camping trip with his friends the next day or something. But he’ll come. It’ll be fun, don’t you think?_

**_10:40 pm_ **

_Sure_

**_10:42 pm_ **

_I’ve been wanting to go on a double date for ages…_  
But Ten hates them..  
He likes to keep his boyfriends to himself. Anyway, I don’t really want Lucas to model himself on any of Ten’s relationships. But I figure he could pick up some tips from Yuta, right? I’d love it if he treated me a bit more like Yuta treats you ^^

Taeyong thought that was funny. The whole time Yuta had been dating Dong Sicheng, Sicheng had complained nonstop (Yuta’s words) about what an unenthusiastic, uninspired, boring, neglectful boyfriend he was (Sicheng’s words). Maybe he was just better at pretending to be in a relationship than at actually being in one.

Because Taeyong felt bad about how excited Jungwoo seemed (even if it was a trick), he replied:

**_10:51 pm_ **

_Oh okay. I’m excited for the date!_

                   ----------

The next morning, as Taeyong was locking his bike, Yuta suddenly grabbed his hand. “Are you excited for our date tonight, Yongie?” He said, a little bit too loudly.

“Shh,” Taeyong said, glancing around for Ten, but the only person he saw was Jaehyun, strolling across the parking lot a few feet away from them. Jaehyun gave him a wave-salute and headed in through the gates.

“Is it a secret from Jaehyun, too?” Yuta said, still holding on to Taeyong’s hand.

“No,” Taeyong said. “I was just making sure Ten wasn’t around. Ironic, right? I mean, we’re going on this date to prove that we’re dating, but we’re keeping it secret from the person we’re proving it to. Who knew deception could be too complicated?”

“It is funny,” Yuta said. “So are you? Excited?”

How was Taeyong supposed to answer this? “Are you?” he asked.

“I asked you first.” Yuta smiled, but there was a small dent above one of his eyebrows that he got only when he was worried.

“Sure, I am,” Taeyong said. “Don’t worry about it, Yuta; we’ll have fun.”

“It’s just, this is the part where my exes started to get mad at me,” Yuta said. “Like, because I’m not calling enough, or complimenting them enough, or giving them enough presents, or something.”

“You don’t have to do any of that,” Taeyong said, shaking his head. Lowering his voice, he added, “This is just pretend, remember?”

“I know,” Yuta said, looking down at Taeyong’s hand in his. “But — if it were real, would you want me — I mean, whoever your real boyfriend was — to do all that stuff?”

“I don’t know,” Taeyong said truthfully. “Not if it’s work. It shouldn’t be hard. I wouldn’t want you — I mean, him — to only be complimenting me because I asked for it, you know? Or because you think you have to. I mean, I think if someone wanted to date me, I’d be happy with whatever they wanted to do to show it.” He shrugged.

“That’s what I figure,” Yuta said. They started walking up the path into Summerlodge. Taeyong wondered if Yuta remembered that he was still holding his hand. “Although I guess if it were the right person, I’d want to do all that stuff. So maybe Sicheng was right about me.”

“No,” Taeyong said loyally. “He didn’t appreciate you.” _Not like I would_.

“Oh, look, it’s the lovebirds,” Ten said, popping out from behind the check-in booth. “So what are you guys doing tonight?” He said in his low voice. “To celebrate your one-week anniversary? Or did you celebrate it on Wednesday?”

“We have plans,” Yuta said.  
“Private plans?” Ten said. “Or maybe we could double-date. Because I was thinking of asking that guy Jaehyun out.” Confusingly, he and Yuta both looked at Taeyong as he said this.

“Oh, I don’t —” Taeyong started to stammer.  
“Sorry,” Yuta said. “Private plans.”

Ten narrowed his eyes. “Doing what?”  
“It’s a surprise for Taeyong,” Yuta said. _Smart_ , Taeyong thought.  
“Hmm.” Ten sniffed. “All right, you can tell me later, Yuta. It can be our little secret.”

Ten stared at Taeyong while Yuta signed in.

“What’s that?” Ten said. “You wear it all the time. Even when it doesn’t go with your outfit. Like today.”

“It’s — Yuta gave it to me,” Taeyong mumbled.

“Aigoo, only a week and already you’re giving him jewelry? What a dashing boyfriend you are, Yuta. I hope Taeyong is good enough for you, kidding!

“I gave it to him a while ago,” Yuta said. “Back when I was starting to figure out I liked him but didn’t know what to do yet.”

Taeyong thought he must be turning red. If only that were actually true. Yuta would have handle the rest of the morning’s interrogation without him.

Jaehyun was warming up, jogging in place. “Hey, Taeyong,” he said. “Remember how we were talking about _Battleground_ yesterday?” Taeyong vaguely remembered saying something about the game, but he wouldn’t have called it a whole conversation. Jaehyun rattled on without waiting for him to answer. “Well, I thought maybe we could play together.”

“Oh, that sounds fun, Jaehyun,” Taeyong said. “But I’m going out with Yuta tonight. Sorry.” He was half sorry and half not. He loved playing _Battleground_ , but it sounded a bit intimidating, just him and Jaehyun hanging out.

“Sure you don’t want to ditch him? And we can order something like pizza!” Jaehyun asked  
“I can’t do that, or you can ask my twin brother Youngho to play with you since he likes gaming as well” Taeyong said.  
“I wanted to be just the two of us playing. Three would be too crowded.” Jaehyun sighed. “What are you doing with Yuta tonight anyway?”  
“We’re going to have a dinner date together.” Taeyong said.

Jaehyun looked like he was going to try again to convince Taeyong, but just then, Jungwoo came up and linked his arm through Taeyong’s, and tugged him away.

It wasn’t until later, during lunch, that something occurred to Taeyong, Had Jaehyun been asking him on a date? It was certainly the first time a person had asked him to do something with just him. What would he have said if he weren’t pretend dating Yuta? Would he want to date Jaehyun? _But I don’t like him that way, do I? He doesn’t make me all fizzy inside the way Yuta does. He makes me nervous...but maybe that’s what it’s supposed to feel like, meeting a new guy you like,_ Taeyong thought.

He didn’t want to date anyone but Yuta. But if Yuta didn’t want to date him — but Jaehyun did — maybe he should try it, for the experience. _I shouldn’t be the only person in high school who’s never been kissed_. The thought of kissing Jaehyun gave him butterflies in his stomach.

 _Well, it doesn’t matter, anyway,_ he told himself firmly. _He thinks I’m dating Yuta. And now that I’ve turned him down once, I doubt he’ll ask again_.

On Taeyong’s side, Yuta leaned forward to grab a napkin. His arm touched Taeyong’s and then stayed there, his skin brushing his, for the rest of lunch.

Jaehyun kept looking at Taeyong and trying to make him laugh. And everytime Taeyong looked up, he found Ten looking at him. Ten had been flirting with Jaehyun all week, but Jaehyun didn’t seem to have noticed. Ten had been ignoring Yuta in favour of Jaehyun, but all Jaehyun’s attention was fixed on Taeyong. Taeyong didn’t like the way Ten looked at him - as if he had stolen _two_ Ten’s boys, now he would have to pay one way….or another.

He was able to push Jaehyun and Ten out of his mind as he biked home with Yuta. Their date was only a few hours away! Even a pretend date was worlds more exciting than sitting at home with Youngho for another Friday night, especially with his brother’s ongoing weirdness.

“I’ll be back at six,” Yuta said.

\----------

At six o’clock, Taeyong was standing in front of his door house, waiting for Yuta. Soon, Yuta arrived. He looked freshly showered and his short-sleeved gray button-down made his eyes look all smoky and dark.

“Hi, Yuta,” Taeyong greeted.  
“Hey,” Yuta replied, suddenly leaning forward and kissing Taeyong on the cheek. It was soft and quick, like a butterfly bumping against his face. There was literally no one in the hallway. No Ten. No Jungwoo.

So...why did he —?

They set off walking. Taeyong was worried about what to say to Yuta. Normally it was easy to talk to him, but this was different. This was a date. Sort of.

When they finally arrived at the restaurant, Jungwoo was already sitting looking through the menu. Jungwoo looked up, raised his hand and waved as soon as he saw them. To their surprise, Lucas, Jungwoo’s boyfriend was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, Jungwoo. Where’s Lucas?” Taeyong asked.  
“He just texted me, and wanted to break up with me.” Jungwoo sighed.  
“What?!“ Taeyong was surprised.  
“I’ve been knew about him and Ten. What a waste of three months _was_.”  
“T-Ten?!! B-” and before Taeyong could ask Jungwoo into details, Jungwoo cut him, “And since my partner isn’t here, this shouldn’t be called a double date anymore. I guess you guys should go have your dinner without me.”

Yuta and Taeyong exchanged uncomfortable glances. Taeyong wasn’t sure what they were supposed to do. Jungwoo wasn’t exactly his friend, but they couldn’t just walk away from him after that.

“You should come with us,” Taeyong said. Besides he had no idea what he and Yuta would talk about the entire dinner themselves. Would they still act like it was a date? As long as Jungwoo was there, he could keep pretending that it really was.

“Yeah,” Yuta said halfheartedly.  
“Oh, sure,” Jungwoo said. “Third wheel on your one-week anniversary. I’m sure that’s exactly what you want.”  
“We could call Youngho,” Taeyong said. “I’m sure he’d be happy to come join us. And then you wouldn’t feel like a third wheel.”  
“Really? Wouldn’t that be weird?” Jungwoo said.  
“He won’t mind, right Yuta?” Taeyong said.  
“Sure,” Yuta said. “I guess I can share you this once.” He took Taeyong’s hand and squeezed it. Taeyong wondered what that meant.

Jungwoo loaned Taeyong his handphone, and although Youngho grumbled a bit about being in the middle of filming, he managed to make it to the diner in record time. He sat next to Jungwoo.

“Hey, Youngho,” Jungwoo said. “Sorry to drag you out into the world on a Friday night.”

As Jungwoo launched into the story of his boyfriend Lucas, Yuta leaned sideways and tapped the back of Taeyong’s hand. He jumped.

“Want to share fries?” Yuta said.  
“Sure, okay,” Taeyong answered.

Taeyong thought it was interesting to listen to Jungwoo’s story with Lucas and Ten.. It was as if Jungwoo’s life could be a TV show in his own mind. But Taeyong couldn’t imagine doing that himself. When Yuta went off to date someone else, Taeyong wouldn’t able to tell sidesplitting stories about pretending to be Yuta’s boyfriend.

After dinner, they went back to Youngho and Taeyong’s house and baked cookies (since Taeyong loved baking and cooking), filming themselves with Youngho’s camera, until it was time for Jungwoo and Yuta to go home. Taeyong realised that he hadn’t been worrying about how to act on the date for at least a couple of hours. It had been like any other night when Yuta came over, except that Jungwoo, was there too.

And there was one other difference. Taeyong walked Yuta and Jungwoo to the door. Jungwoo started down the steps, but Yuta hesitated in the doorway.

 _Oh my God,_ Taeyong thought. _It’s the end of the date. Don’t real couples kiss at the end of a date? Will Jungwoo think it’s weird if we don’t?_

Yuta looked into his eyes, and Taeyong held his breath. On one hand, he wanted him to. Of course he wanted him to; he’d been wanting Yuta to kiss him for almost three years. But if this was his first kiss...he wanted it to be real. He wanted it to be important to the person as well as to him. He wanted Yuta to kiss him because he wanted to, not because he was playing a role.

“Um, good night,” Taeyong said quickly, stepping forward to hug Yuta goodbye. Maybe that would let Yuta know that he didn’t have to do anything else.

Yuta’s arms tightened around Taeyong and it seemed for a moment like time slowed down, and Taeyong could have stood there forever, pressed against Yuta. Taeyong breathed in the smell of Yuta’s hair and felt the warmth of Yuta’s face right next to him.

Finally he let go and stepped back, and Taeyong did too, trying to act casual, like that had been a perfectly ordinary hug.

“Okay, good night,” Yuta said. He ducked his head, kissed Taeyong quickly on the cheek, and then turned, jumping down the steps. Within moment, he had vanished into the night.

 

 

And that was the end of Taeyong’s first date.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Taeyong spent most of his Saturday playing video games in his living room. Youngho shut himself in his room and didn’t come out until dinnertime, and then he wouldn’t tell Taeyong what he’d been doing. _Fine then,_ Taeyong thought. _You keep your secrets and I’ll keep mine._

Sunday morning at breakfast, their dad announced that he wanted them to wash the car. Youngho groaned and smacked his head onto the table.

“Come on, son,” Mr. Lee said, clapping his son on the shoulder. “It’ll be fun, right, Taeyong?”

Taeyong giggled. Last time they’d been given this chore, he and Youngho wound up wetter than the car in the end. Youngho hated it, but Taeyong thought it was kind of fun. Especially when it was hot and sunny outside, like it was that day.

Their dad got buckets and sponges. Youngho was already inside the car, vacumming between and under the seats. Taeyong changed the pine-scented tree that hung  in the front window, and then he wiped down all the hard surfaces. As soon as Youngho was finished, Taeyong ran to get the hose.

“Step back,” he warned, and Youngho jumped out of the way. Taeyong turned on the hose, and Ruby, their dog, immediately came running over under the spray.

“Ruby!” Taeyong protested, trying to point the hose away. The dog woofed and chased the water across the driveway, running frantically around the car to get it. Taeyong started laughing, so he didn’t see the person standing at the bottom of the driveway until he whirled around and sprayed water all over the person.

“Yah!”

“Omg” Taeyong shut off the hose immediately, but it was too late. Jaehyun was thoroughly drenched. He was wearing jeans and a black sleeveless shirt.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t see you there.” Taeyong said.

“Dude, you totally soaked me,” Jaehyun said. He didn’t sound happy.

“Who’s he?” Youngho asked. Taeyong shoved the hose into Youngho’s hands.

“Wait here,” he called to Jaehyun. He ran inside, grabbed a towel from the linen closet, and ran back out. By then Jaehyun had pulled off his dripping shirt and was wringing it out.

“Here,” Taeyong said, handing Jaehyun the towel. “I’m really sorry. What are you doing here?”

“I thought I’d stop by and say hey,” Jaehyun said, rubbing his hair with the towel. “I didn’t know your driveway was a water hazard.”

“How’d you know where I live?” Taeyong asked.

“It wasn’t that hard to figure out,” Jaehyun said. He kicked off his sneakers, pulled off his socks, and dried his feet.

“Who’s this?” Youngho said again, coming up behind Taeyong.

“This is Jaehyun,” Taeyong said, _You’d know all about him if you ever bothered to ask me how soccer camp was going._ “Jaehyun, this is my twin brother, Youngho.”

“Twins,” Jaehyun said, nodding thoughtfully. “That’s cool.”

“Here, if we put your shirt here, it’ll dry faster.” Taeyong said. He took Jaehyun’s black shirt from him and drapped it over the porch railing, in the sun. Jaehyun dropped his socks and sneakers on the step.

“So what are you doing?” Jaehyun said. “Apart from soaking innocent bystanders?”

“We’re washing the car,” Taeyong said.

“Want to help?” Youngho offered.

“Youngho yah,” Taeyong said. “I’m sure Jaehyun doesn’t want to wash the car with us.” And Taeyong wasn’t sure he wanted Jaehyun to stick around that long. Jaehyun kept giving him this slanty look and smile, like he thought Taeyong had deliberately gotten him to take his shirt off. As if! Sure, he was cute, but Taeyong had seen him and Yuta next to each other, and Yuta was much cuter. In Taeyong’s opinion anyway.

“I’d love to,” Jaehyun said. “Hand me that hose.” He smirked.

“Don’t even think about it,” Taeyong said, backing up. “Jaehyun, don’t you dare!” He ducked behind the car just as Jaehyun grabbed the hose from Youngho and turned it on him. Jaehyun chased Taeyong around the car and Taeyong fled shrieking down the driveway, straight into Yuta’s arms.

Yuta was looking over Taeyong’s shoulder at Jaehyun, and he wasn’t smiling.

“Oops,” Jaehyun said. “You caught us.” He grinned and spread his arms like he was being held at gunpoint.

“Caught you doing what?” Yuta asked. Taeyong wondered the same thing. Why would Jaehyun put it like that?

There was an awkward pause, Yuta was still holding on to Taeyong’s elbows. Youngho glanced at each of them, looking confused.

“I got Jaehyun wet by accident,” Taeyong said. “He just stopped by, and he wanted to help wash the car..um..” Why did it suddenly sound lame and unbelievable?

“Yeah, man, sorry,” Jaehyun said. “We were just having fun. It’s not what it looks like.”

 _Not what it looks like?_ Taeyong thought. _Doesn’t it look like we’re washing the car? There’s nothing to feel weird about here, right?_

“What are you up to?” Taeyong said, trying to sound casual, although it was difficult while Yuta still had him pinned.

“Maybe I can stay and help, too,” Yuta said. “After all, now I’m as wet as you guys.” He glanced at Taeyong and finally smiled. “Hey,” He gave Taeyong a wet, squishy hug and Taeyong hid his smile.

“I saw Jaehyun ride by in this direction,” Yuta whispered in Taeyong’s ear. “So I figured I’d come to make sure he wasn’t bothering you. Hope that’s okay.”

“Of course,” Taeyong said softly. “As long as you had a good, heroic reason for coming. We wouldn’t want you to stop by just to say hi or do anything crazy.”

Yuta winked at Taeyong and slung his arm over Taeyong’s shoulder as they went back up the driveway. He and Jaehyun exchanged dark glances as they passed, but Yuta bent down and grabbed a sponge without commenting.

“Youngho yah,” Yuta said. “I heard that there are more new mangas going to be released. Animefest, what do you think, Taeyong?”

“Sure, sounds awesome,” Taeyong said. Yuta tossed him a sponge then threw another one over to Jaehyun, a little harder, so that soap bubbles spattered across Jaehyun’s chest.

“Come on, Jaehyun,” Yuta said cheerfully. “Let’s wash this.”

Between the four of them, it took almost no time at all. Taeyong noticed that Jaehyun was a lot more subdued now that Yuta was there. He didn’t try to spray Taeyong again, and he mostly acted like he really wanted to get out of there. But whenever he saw Taeyong looking at him, he’d give him that crooked smile, and he kept edging over to work closer to Taeyong.

“Omo!” a voice said behind them. Taeyong turned to find his parents standing on the porch. Mrs. Lee put her hands on her hips. “How did you all get so wet?  Serve me right for putting you guys and a hose together on a hot day,” Mrs. Lee said with a grin.

“I didn’t get wet,” Youngho pointed out in a superior voice. “We could always fix that, you know,” Taeyong threatened.

“I think that is quite enough,” Mrs. Lee said quickly.

“Yes, good work, kids,” Mr. Lee said. “The car looks great.”

“Yuta, would you like to join us for cookies?” Taeyong’s mom added. “Freshly homemade!”

Jaehyun popped out from behind the car and Mrs. Lee jumped. “Cookies? Did someone say cookies?” Jaehyun said.

“Who is _this_?” Mr. Lee asked. Neither he nor Taeyong’s mom looked thrilled about having a strange, shirtless boy in the driveway.

“That’s Jaehyun,” Taeyong said. “He is in the soccer camp with us.”

“Oh,” Mrs. Lee said, mollified. “That’s nice. Come on in.”

Taeyong was relieved to see Jaehyun put his shirt back on before they all trooped into the house. He was sort of jumpy around Taeyong’s parents, like he wasn’t sure what they would think of him, but he said all the right polite things about the cookies. He bolted out of his chair as soon as he was done.

“Well, I gotta run,” he said. “See you tomorrow, Taeyong.”

“Yup, we’ll see you tomorrow,” Yuta said scooting his chair next to Taeyong’s. Taeyong risked a glance at his mother, who was washing dishes in the sink and pretending not to pay attention. Taeyong was sure he spotted a tiny smile on his mom’s face.

“Bye Jaehyun,” Taeyong said.

The door banged behind him.

“Have I mentioned I really don’t like that guy?” Yuta said.

________________

On Monday, Yuta had a little discussion with Mrs. Jung since the archery tournament was going to be held real soon.

“Hey,” Jaehyun said, slouching up to Taeyong and Jungwoo. “I had fun on Sunday,” he said to Taeyong.

Jungwoo raised his eyebrows.

“Washing my parents’ car,” Taeyong said quickly. “With Yuta and Youngho.”

“Yeah, too bad,” Jaehyun said. “We might have had more fun just the two of us.” He gave Taeyong arm a quick squeeze and then meandered away.

“What a flirt,” Jungwoo whispered. When Taeyong’s eyes widened, he added, “I mean him, not you. Like he’s taken, pal, back off. Right?”

Taeyong rubbed his arm and stared at Jaehyun’s retreating back. Did he really like him _that way_?

He seemed to….but why? He thought Taeyong was with Yuta, so he shouldn’t be flirting with him. It was all very confusing.

That afternoon they began the archery tournament that Mrs. Jung had been talking about. Taeyong’s team won their game, which made Yuta cheered for him in a totally adorable way.

As he dropped Taeyong off at home, Yuta said, “Hey Yong-ah, ask Youngho about watching those anime movies this weekend, okay?”

“Sure,” Taeyong said. He watched Yuta pedal away, waving when he looked back right before turning off onto his street.

To Taeyong’s surprise, Ruby was on the porch. Its leash was tied to the railing and its squashed little face was pressed against the screen door as if it’d been yearning to go back inside for days and days.

“Hey, Ruby,” Taeyong said, crouching down and unclipping it. “What are you doing out here?” He scratched behind its ears and Ruby tried to climb on his knees to snuffle at his face.

The instant he swung the door open, Ruby bolted toward the living room. There was a yeld and then a thud. Taeyong ran after it and found his mom in a contorted position on the carpet with Ruby clambering all over her.

“Mom?” Taeyong gasped. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes,” Mrs. Lee said, untangling herself. She reached for the remote and paused the TV. Taeyong realized that the people on-screen were all in leotards and were now frozen in the same weird position.

“What are you doing?” Taeyong asked.

“I’m trying to do yoga,” his mother said. “But a certain dog was making it very difficult.” Ruby snorted and wagged its tail triumphantly.

“Yoga?” Taeyong said, dropping his bag inside the door. “I thought you went to a class for that?”

“Well, I found this channel, so I thought I’d try it. It’s very good if you can get through it without having your face licked off.” His mom gave Ruby a stern look, but the dog just sat there with a goofy expression.

“Can I watch?” Taeyong said. “Maybe I can distract the dog.”

“Of course,” his mother said delightedly. “You can even join me if you like. I just started.”

“Um…okay,” Taeyong said. He had to admit he was curious. He sat on the carpet next to his mother as Mrs. Lee skipped back to the beginning of the show.

“So how was soccer today?” Mrs. Lee asked

“The same,” Taeyong said. He imitated his mother’s cross-legged position, trying to sit up tall and keep his back straight. The woman on the TV was yammering about breathing.

“Anything exciting happening?”

Taeyong debated with himself for a minute and then decided to share a small part of his problem with his mom.

“It’s Yuta’s birthday on Wednesday,” Taeyong said, “and I have to get him a present.”

“Ah,” His mother shook her head. “I made the same mistake with your father.”

“Mistake?” Taeyong repeated.

“Starting to date him right before his birthday. Trying to come up with the perfect gift when you barely know a guy, it’s terrible!”

“I wouldn’t say I ‘barely know’ Yuta,” Taeyong pointed out.

“Of course, dear. And he must be easier to shop for than your dad. I can’t even get that man a tie without earning a lecture on appropriate colours for the office.”

“Well, I thought the orange was cool,” Taeyong said loyally. Dad had had to buy all his own ties since that Christmas.

“Think about what Yuta likes,” Mrs. Lee said, “and what he’s interested in. Something personal is always better than something expensive.”

Then they had to stop talking because the woman on-screen was explaining a position called the “downward dog,” which, as far as Taeyong could tell, was named that because it brought his mom’s face down close to the floor, where Ruby could easily lick it.

He thought about what his mother had said. What did Yuta like?

_If only the answer was me…_

\------------------

 

At lunch on Wednesday, Ten sat down across from Taeyong and Yuta, even though Jungwoo was on the other side of Taeyong. Jungwoo and Taeyong exchanged glances. Ten hadn’t spoken to Jungwoo since the incident, but Jungwoo still seemed to think that they’d make up soon. Taeyong wasn’t sure where he’d gotten that idea, since he had never seen Ten forgive anyone, but Jungwoo kept cheerfully saying, “Oh, Ten will come around.”

“Jungwoo is an optimist,” Youngho said when Taeyong told him about that, “He can’t tell when people are genuinely evil because he’s too nice to be evil himself. That’s exactly the kind of person the genuinely evil types like the best.”

“What on earth are you talking about?” Taeyong had answered.

“It’s in plenty of movies,” Youngho said with a shrug, keeping his eyes on their video game.

When Ten sat down, Jungwoo said, “Hey, Ten, how’s it going?” and held out his bag of Mini Oreos. “Want one?”

Ten ignored him.

“Where’s Jaehyun?” he asked Taeyong

“I’m not sure,” Taeyong said, glancing at Jungwoo.

“Oh,” Ten said. “I thought you might know.”

 _Why?_ Taeyong wondered. “Mr. Kim probably kept him to help find the soccer ball he knocked into the bushes,” he said. “He seemed kind of mad about that.”

Taeyong glanced across the table at Ten, but the black haired guy was delicately crunching a piece of celery and didn’t look like he was going anywhere. And really, the whole point of Taeyong’s present for Yuta was to prove his boyfriend status to Ten, so he might as well give it to Yuta in front of Ten, no matter how awkward it made him feel.

“Here,” Taeyong said, pulling a wrapped gift out of his shoulder bag and handing it to Yuta. “Happy birthday!”

Yuta looked surprised. “But—“

“I know we haven’t been dating long,” Taeyong said, trying to communicate, _Shut up and open it,_ with his eyes. “But hopefully you’ll like it.”

They  already had a mini-birthday breakfast that morning, at Taeyong’s house. His mom had made banana pancakes for him and Yuta and Youngho and they’d stuck a candle in one and all sung “Happy birthday” completely off-key. Yuta had probably thought that was the extent of his birthday celebrations. Boy, was he going to be surprised?

“Wow, thanks,” Yuta said, pulling off the ribbon, “You didn’t have to do this.”

“Of course he did,” Ten interjected. “He’s your boyfriend, Yuta.”

“Yeah,” Taeyong said. “Exactly.”

“Oh,” Yuta said. “Ah.” Then, as he ripped off the wrapping paper: “Wait, is this…Tupperware?”

“Cool right?” Taeyong said. “You can put food inside it, and it’ll stay fresh. Isn’t that a great idea?” And look, the container is purple.”

Yuta gave him a puzzled look and Taeyong shook his head at him, laughing. “No, I didn’t give you Tupperware for your birthday. Open the container.”

Yuta peeled back the plastic lid, and his face lit up exactly the way Taeyong had been hoping it would.

Inside, nestled in rows across the bottom, were eighteen takoyakis. On the top of each one, Taeyong had written a letter in takoyaki sauce, so they spelled out HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YUTA!

“Oh my god,” Yuta said. “Yong-ah, this is amazing. It’s too cool to eat.”

“I hope not, because I’m planning to help you eat them,” Taeyong said.

“What?” Ten said impatiently. “Let me see.” Yuta tilted the container toward Ten so Ten could see the takoyaki message. Yuta had a cute triumphant-looking smile on his face. Taeyong guessed that he had played his part perfectly.

“Takoyaki?” Ten said. “How…sweet. What a clever way to save money, Taeyong.”

“It’s the best present I’ve ever gotten,” Yuta said, seeing Taeyong started to deflate. Yuta took the first takoyaki out, and bit off half of it. Then he held out the other half to Taeyong.

“Thanks,” Taeyong said, turning pink. Yuta batted Taeyong’s hand away and made Taeyong open his mouth so Yuta could pop it in.

Youngho and Jungwoo had helped him make them, with his mom supervising.

“So what else did you get him?” Ten asked. “Anything…lasting?” His expression seemed to be saying, _Or is your relationship going to be as short-lived as these takoyakis?_

“I hope you didn’t get me anything else,” Yuta said. “This is perfect enough for me.”

The truth was Taeyong did have another present for him in his pocket. But he was less sure about that one. He’d bought it a while before because it made him think of Yuta when he’d seen it, but he’d never found the opportunity to give it to Yuta. But then, the day before, he’d shown it to Jungwoo, who was convinced that Yuta would love it. If he didn’t, there was no way for Taeyong to get it back. And Taeyong kind of liked hiding it in his shoe box, next to the origami whale.

“I – I thought I’d give it to him later.” Taeyong said.

“Oh, in _private_?” Ten said snidely. Taeyong nodded.

“Okay,” Ten said. Ten clearly didn’t believe Taeyong had anything else, but Taeyong didn’t want to prove it badly enough to give Yuta this present in front of Ten.

“Well,” Ten said, collecting his lunch remains, “you can tell me what is it later, Yuta.”

He swept off, evidently feeling that he’d seen enough.

“You don’t have to give me anything else,” Yuta said seriously, taking Taeyong’s hand. “I really love the takoyaki.”

“And Ten was convinced, don’t you think?” Taeyong said.

Yuta looked down at their hands, “Good job. You, uh, nearly had me fooled too.”

“I do have something else,” Taeyong said. “But it might be kind of stupid. I don’t know if you’ll want it. If you don’t want it, just give it back to me.”

Yuta grinned. “I’m sure if you picked it, it’s awesome.”

Hesitantly, Taeyong pulled a small cloth bag out of his pocket and placed it in Yuta’s hand. Yuta untied the strings and poured out the contents onto the table. Two earrings with small white whales strung on each one of them.

Yuta touched the little whale, his smile growing. Taeyong thought it was made of whalebone or shell; anyway, it felt smooth and was polished to a shine. Its little tail was lifted in a happy way, and tiny flippers were carved in the side.

“Earrings,” Taeyong said.

“Taeyong, I love it,” he said, “Will you put them on me?”

Taeyong blinked at him, “Really?”

“Yeah, of course,” Yuta said. “I want to show off my boyfriend’s awesome taste.”

Yuta scooted near Taeyong, and Taeyong carefully wore them on Yuta. He felt so strange, finally giving this pair of tiny earrings to Yuta. What if Yuta thought it was just a pretend present? What if he had no idea that it actually meant something to Taeyong? How could he know? Taeyong had always imagined giving this to him and telling him at the same time that he’d liked him for ages, and that he’d been saving the earrings all that time. But he obviously couldn’t tell him that now. He thought they were only pretending.

Taeyong clipped the end of the earrings in a knot. They looked perfect on him. The two whales hung on both of his ears, Yuta just looked even more handsome.

“Thanks, Yong-ah,” Yuta said, wrapping his arms around Taeyong and pulling him in for a hug,Taeyong rested his head on Yuta’s shoulder and felt the muscles of his back below Taeyong’s palms. “This is the greatest birthday,” Yuta said.

 

_Why does he have to be so cute? Why can’t this be real? When is this going to end?_

_And…what is going to happen to me when this is over?_


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This is gonna be the last chapter of this whole Yutae story ^^ Everything is gonna be revealed. The question is, will Yuta and Taeyong be together for real or stay as friends? ;)
> 
> Thank you so much for leaving beautiful comments and kudos from the very first chapter to the last one. This story sounds a bit cliche and childish but I hope it somehow makes you smile and cringe and everything that involves your emotions lol. Again, thank you and enjoy reading it. Oh, please prepare your heart beforehand. Bye! xx

Friday morning arrived.

“Are you ready?” Yuta said as Taeyong walked down the steps of the porch.

“Ready?” Taeyong asked.

“For the archery finals!” Yuta said. “We’re going to win! Rarrr!” He did a cute goofy victory dance, crashed into his bike, and tipped over onto the lawn. Taeyong giggled.

“It’s like I always say,” Yuta said from the grass. “Coordination, grace, the ability to stay upright…all of these are important in the archery.”

“I think our team would have a better chance of winning if I _didn’t_ play,” Taeyong said.

“No way,” Yuta said, scrambling to his feet. “You have to play. You’re essential. You’re the heart and soul of the team! Besides, we need three players or Mrs. Jung will disqualify us. You know her; she’s a stickler for rules.” He grinned and Taeyong smacked his shoulder.

“Oh, it’s nice to be vital,” Taeyong said.

As Yuta pedaled down the driveway, Taeyong checked his shoulder bag again. His sports shoes, Nintendo, and a change of clothes were all there. Why did he have this weird feeling that something was missing?

He must be imagining things. He waved to Youngho, who was standing in his window, and took off after Yuta.

During soccer, Taeyong left his bag, as usual, with the other bags over by the benches under the shelter. He could see it from the field, but he didn’t pay much attention to it, since he was focusing on the ball.

It wasn’t until the other players went into the changing room that Taeyong opened his bag again. A sick, nervous feeling shot through his stomach. His sports shoes were missing!

He shoved the rest of the things aside, feeling around at the bottom of the bag. Then he sat down on the bench and dumped it out, putting everything back in piece by piece.

They were definitely, definitely gone.

His breathing seemed to have sped up and he felt on the verge of panic. Without the sports shoes, he couldn’t play, which meant letting Yuta and the team down. Sure, it was only a dumb archery game, but he would still feel awful about it. _There’s no way I’m going to wear these soccer shoes for archery_ , Taeyong thought. And Mrs. Jung was going to be mad.

“Oh,” Ten said, and Taeyong turned to find him leaning against the wall. “What on earth’s the matter? You look pale, Taeyong.”

Jungwoo popped his head out of a stall a few doors down, as if the tone of Ten’s voice had aroused his suspicions.

“My sports shoes,” Taeyong said. “They’re gone, but I’m sure I packed them this morning…” A horrible suspicion hit him. He looked up at Ten, whose fake concerned expression couldn’t hide the smirk in his eyes. “Did – did y—“

“That is _so_ sad. What are you going to do? Yuta is so excited about winning this tournament.” Ten said.

“Ten-ah!” Jungwoo said, stomping over. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Ten said. “Poor Taeyong has lost his sports shoes. And I’m still not speaking to you. Oh, I have a great idea, Taeyong.”

“Great’ meaning ‘humiliating,’ I’m sure,” Jungwoo said.

“Why don’t we check the lost and found?” Ten said, ignoring Jungwoo. He pranched over to a large cardbox in the corner. “Maybe your shoes are here…or maybe you can ask someone who has an extra pair of sports shoes…or _maybe_ there’s another one you can wear!” he pointed at Taeyong’s soccer shoes that were placed on the bench.

 _Are you fucking kidding me?_ Taeyong thought.

“Perfect!” Ten exclaimed. “I mean, considering you don’t have anything else. I guess you either wear these, or you ruin everything for Yuta. Hmmmm.” He pretended to look thoughtful.

“Ten, you better give him back his shoes,” Jungwoo snapped. “Give them back right now before I punch you in the face.” He dared.

“I don’t have them,” Ten said. “I suppose you could search all over Summerlodge for it…They must be around here somewhere, right?” Ten smiled, and Taeyong felt cold all over.

What was he going to do? He’d never get Ten to give him the shoes, and they must be hidden somewhere hard to find. But he did not want to wear the soccer shoes as it wasn’t appropriate to wear them for archery.

Jungwoo looked as worried as Taeyong felt. A whistle blew out by the field.

“Taeyong, I have to go out there,” Jungwoo said. His team was up first, playing another team for third place. “You have a little while before your team has to play. You’ll think of something, don’t worry.” Jungwoo started toward the door, then turned and hurried back. He dug into his bag, pulled out his phone, and pressed it into Taeyong’s hand. “In case you need it,” he whispered. “Ten is crazy and evil.” He ran out to the field.

Taeyong stared down at the phone in his hand.

There was one other option…

Had Ten planted them in the lost and found box?

He switched on the phone and dialed home. He was hoping Youngho would answer, but instead it was his dad’s voice that said, “Hello, hello, Lee residence!”

“Hi, Dad,” Taeyong said, winching. “Uh – is Youngho there?”

“No, he’s not, son,” Mr. Lee said. “Is everything okay? Aren’t you supposed to be in some activity class right now?”

”Yeah,” Taeyong said slowly. Where the heck was Youngho again, in the middle of the day? If only he were there, Taeyong wouldn’t have let his dad know what he’d done with the black sports shoes that his parents gave him on his birthday. But he had no choice.

With a sigh, Taeyong said, “Dad, can you do me a favour?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“I, uh,” Taeyong said, “I forgot my black sports shoes.”

“And you have the archery finals today, don’t you?” his dad said. Taeyong could never predict what his father would remember and what would just fly out of his brain the minute it went in.

“That’s right,” Taeyong said. “So I need the black shoes. Could you bring them to me?”

“Absolutely,” his dad said. He sounded pleased to be able to help. Mr. Lee went into Taeyong’s room.

“Where did you put them?” Mr. Lee asked.

“Um,” Taeyong said. “They’re….under the bed.”

There was a pause. Taeyong heard rummaging noises and then another pause. Finally his father said, “Son, they still have tags on.”

Taeyong could picture his father standing in his bedroom, holding the black shoes with a crestfallen look on his face.

“I know, Dad,” Taeyong said. “I’m sorry.”

“You haven’t worn them?”

“I’ve been wearing the red ones,” Taeyong said, “but I really want to wear those black ones today.”

“Taeyong-ah,” his dad said. “You don’t have to wear them if you don’t like them.”

“I do!” Taeyong said. “I mean, I need them. As soon as possible. Please, Dad?”

“I’ll be right there,” his dad said.

Taeyong hung up the phone with a sigh of relief.

Out by the field, Ten was standing next to Jaehyun. He raised his eyebrows at made ruffling motions with his hands next to his shoulders. Taeyong walked towards Mrs. Jung, who was watching the archery with the intensity of a bird of prey.

“I forgot my sports shoes,” Taeyong said. “My dad’s bringing them. Can I go meet him?”

Mrs. Jung barked, “Yes! Hurry, but don’t run! And don’t do it again!” without taking her eyes off the game.

Taeyong ran down the path to the parking lot, ignoring Mrs. Jung’s instructions. He had been standing there for only a minute when his father pulled in. Taeyong nearly threw himself through the driver’s-side window, he was so pleased to see him.

“Thank you, Dad!” Taeyong said.

“Are you sure you want these?” Mr. Lee said, holding the shoes out of arm’s reach.

“I do want them,” Taeyong said, leaning in the window.

“All right,” his dad said, cutting off the tags with a pair of scissors. “But, Taeyong, you should always tell me if I get you something you don’t like.”

“Impossible,” Taeyong said, grabbing the shoes. “Thank you! Bye!” He ran back across the parking lot and all the way back to the field, although he remembered to slow down as he passed Mrs. Jung.

Had that been a surprised look on Ten’s as he passed by? Taeyong hoped so. He couldn’t wait for Ten to realize that his evil plan had been foiled.

He jumped into a stall and changed his shoes, tying them quickly and carefully putting his bead necklace in the zipper pocket of his bag.

The whistle blew out by the field once again. The first game must be over. Panic hit Taeyong again. Now he had to walk out there feeling nervous. Taking a deep breath, he ran out of the stall. Taeyong could feel Ten glaring at him, as if blunt icicles were jabbing into the back of his neck.

Taeyong was wearing finger tab when Jaehyun popped up beside him.

“Dude,” Jaehyun said. “I love your shoes. Why don’t you wear them every day?”

“Um,” Taeyong stammered, “I – “

“Oh, awesome,” Jungwoo said, coming up behind him. “This is exactly the comeuppance Ten deserves.”  That day, Taeyong looked incredibly attractive with the dark purple outfit and black shoes that he wore, he looked so good with the bow and arrow. He made everyone swoon all over. He could sense Yuta was staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face. It made Taeyong nervous. Yuta looked like he’d never seen Taeyong before in his life.

“All right, come on, people!” Mrs. Jung yelled. “Enough chitchat!”

“I see your sinister plan, you know,” Jaehyun said. “You’re trying to distract me with your hotness so your team will win.”

Taeyong didn’t know what to say to that. Why did Jaehyun keep flirting with him? Jaehyun knew about Yuta. And it sure seemed like Ten would be interested in dating him, if he’d just turn his charm on Ten.

Luckily, Taeyong didn’t have to answer, because Jaehyun walked towards his team without waiting for a response. Taeyong walked towards Yuta, who was holding the bow and looking kind of dazed.

“Is everything okay?” Taeyong asked, taking his position.

“Uh, yeah,” Yuta said. “Totally okay.” He shoved his hair back and glanced at Taeyong sideways before quickly looking away again.

Taeyong decided it was maybe not the right time to tell Yuta about Ten and the shoes. A moment later, Mrs. Jung blew her whistle, and the game began.

Yuta reached over and took Taeyong’s hand. An unfamiliar sensation brushed across Taeyong’s hand and he nearly jumped out. Yuta was slowly running his thumb back and forth over Taeyong’s knuckles. It felt like a secret code vibrating through his skin. Almost as if he were saying, “Don’t worry, I’m here.” Why was he doing that? What did it mean?

After ten days of this, Taeyong suspected he was actually getting better. Of course, Jaehyun and Ten were very good, so he didn’t expect to win. But Yuta seemed to be playing like a professional person, he kept shooting the arrow right through the gold ring which was worth 10 points, gaining scores for his team.

Finally the score was 45-50. Ten’s team was leading at the moment. It was Taeyong’s turn to aim the arrow for the last round. If Taeyong could get more than 5 points, that automatically made his team win over Ten’s.

Yuta came forward, giving him a little squeeze on his shoulders. Taeyong took a deep breath. He kept his eyes on the target, slowly pulled the bow string, and when he released the arrow, his teammates Yuta and Haechan were hooting and hollering and the audience was on their feet applauding.

He looked around, bewildered, and the arrow was right in the middle of the target. They’d won!

“We did it!” Yuta yelled. “You did it! Taeyong!” He threw his arms around Taeyong and spun him in a circle. Taeyong clutched him with a shriek laughing. He felt giddy. He felt victorious. He felt Yuta’s warm arms circling his waist and it made him feel pretty close to fainting.

“We really won,” Taeyong started to say as Yuta put him down, but all of a sudden Yuta seemed really close to him, and then Yuta’s arms pulled him closer and pressed his lips to Taeyong’s and –

_He’s kissing me!_

The universe seemed to spiral into the one perfect, central point where Yuta’s lips were touching Taeyong’s, and for a moment that one spot was the only thing he could feel. Then suddenly he felt Yuta’s hands pressed into his back and his hands on Yuta’s shoulders, and then he remembered that they were in the middle of the field with hundreds of people watching them, and then like something was exploding in his mind, he remembered that this wasn’t real, none of it was real, Yuta was just pretending for Ten, and that meant that this, his first kiss, his first real kiss ever, meant nothing at all.

Taeyong pulled back so fast and stumbled backward. Yuta reached for his hand to help him, but he scrambled out of reach, floundering to the side and ran as fast as he could.

“Taeyong,” Yuta said, “Wait.”

But he had already left and went straight to the changing room.

\---------------

Taeyong could hear Jungwoo calling for him through the chaos of everyone changing, but he stayed crouched on a bench in a back stall until Jungwoo gave up and left. He figured if he hid for long enough, everyone else would leave and then he could make him escape without anyone seeing him, anyone staring or pointing.

The whole thing had been a disaster. He would go home and tell his parents he wanted to quit Summerlodge. Or at least he could switch to a new afternoon activity now – like Frisbee, far away from Yuta and Ten and all this torture. He could have a real relationship instead of a pretend one and get kissed in a way that actually meant something. He hugged his knees to his chest and tried not to think about it.

Finally the changing room went quiet. It seemed like he’d been waiting forever. He was about to stand up when suddenly he heard voices drifting over the thin wall between the stalls.

“Now I get it. It’s obvious what’s going on.” It was Ten. Taeyong froze. What was obvious? The fact that he and Yuta were only pretending? “I mean,” Ten continued, “he clearly feels sorry for him. That’s why he’s doing this. It’s probably a favour for his geek loser twin brother. But it’s just cruel, because he obviously doesn’t  really like him that way, and he probably thinks he does. “

A second voice rumbled something, too low for Taeyong to hear.

“Well – look at him, for one thing,” Ten said. “He’s so awkward and quiet, which definitely not Yuta’s ideal type at all. Plus, did you see how he reacted to that kiss? I told you he was a freak. Like he’s too innocent to kiss his own boyfriend. Poor Yuta. It must be like dating a Care Bear.”

Taeyong’s face was burning. He pulled on his shirt, trying to hurry out before he heard any more.

“That was pretty lame,” agreed the second voice. “I expected him to be more mature than that.” He chuckled, and Taeyong realised the voice sounded familiar.

“You should’ve listened to me,” Ten purred. “I told you he wasn’t your type. I, on the other hand…”

“You are exactly what most people want,” said the voice. There was a pause. Taeyong leaned against the door, wondering if they were gone. He realised that what he was hearing were kissing noises. Who was Ten kissing in the changing room?

“Yes, I am what people want,” Ten said, sounding satisfied. “Yuta is going to get sick of the sweet-little-kid act pretty fast. If he doesn’t break up with him this weekend, I’ll – I’ll – I don’t know, I’ll eat a whole ice-cream sundae or something.

“Why do you care so much if they break up?” the voice said. Taeyong strained to hear. Who was it?

“I’m just trying to teach that jerk a lesson,” Ten said. “A lesson about stealing things from Ten Chittaphon. And if you really want to know the truth…” His voice went from steely to coquettish. “I was pretty angry that you were more interested in him than in me, too.”

_Jaehyun!_

“That was dumb of me,” Jaehyun said, sounding repentant. “I didn’t realise what a geek he is. If I were YUta, I’d be like, ‘Okay, whatever, loser. I can go kiss some other person who won’t run away when I do it.’”

“Exactly,” Ten purred. “Like me.”

More kissing noises. Taeyong wished he could vanish into thin air and never reappear again.

“So – does this mean we’re dating now?” Jaehyun said.

“I told you,” Ten said. “You can be my boyfriend… _after_ I’m through Yuta. I need to show him that nobody says no to Ten, for any reason. Don’t worry, it won’t be long. He’ll break up with Taeyong soon and I’ll grab him. I’ll show him how much better he could have had it, and then I’ll dump him so hard he’ll never date in this town again.” He laughed. “It’ll be beautiful.”

Taeyong clutched the edge of the bench, trying not to make a sound. He wanted to scream and throw a punch in Ten’s face, but even more than that, he wanted to escape without them knowing he’d overheard.

“Poor little Taeyong,” Ten said. “He’s lost his shoes, he’s lost his necklace, and he’s about to lose a boyfriend. Maybe he’ll think twice about taking something of mine in the future, don’t you agree?”

“You’re so cute when you’re evil,” Jaehyun said.

Their footsteps were getting farther away, and their voices quieter, but Taeyong wasn’t listening anymore. His hand flew to his neck, and then he grabbed his bag and unzipped the pocket.

His necklace was gone.

He felt tears pushing at the back of his eyes. He had to get home before he cried. He didn’t want to cry there, where Ten might find him. Taeyong hurried out of the stall and snuck a look around the door. There was no sign of Jaehyun and Ten. He ran out of the changing room and down the path to his bike.

He was already at the Summerlodge entrance when he looked up and saw Yuta leaning against the bike rack. It was too late to run; Yuta had definitely seen him. But he tried anyway, turning to flee back up the path.

“Wait!” Yuta called.

Taeyong made it as far as the check-in booth before Yuta caught up. Yuta grabbed his elbow and pulled him to a stop facing him.

“I have to go home,” Taeyong said, looking down at his feet. _I have to find a closet I can hide in for the rest of my life. One with cable TV and a never-ending supply of chocolate. That’d be perfect._

“Tae, I’m sorry,” Yuta said and the guilt in his voice brought Taeyong dangerously close to crying. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I – I just –“

“I know,” Taeyong said, “you wanted Ten to really believe we were dating. Because why would he believe it? You would never date me. I’m weird and shy and I like hanging out with my brother and playing games and playing with my dog, and – and I’ve never dated anyone but you’re perfect and gorgeous and funny and smart so it – it doesn’t make sense and of course he’s suspicious and of course the only way to prove it by kissing me, but I –“ To his horror, Taeyong felt tears spilling down his cheeks. He covered his face with his hands.

“I just wanted our first kiss to be real,” Taeyong whispered.

“Taeyong,” Yuta said, and then his hands were on Taeyong’s shoulders and he pulled him into his chest, wrapping his arms around him. Taeyong kept his hands pressed to his face, trying not to sob. “Tae,” he said again, his mouth pressed against Taeyong’s hair so Taeyong could feel Yuta’s lips moving. “You have no idea…”

“And he stole my shoes,” Taeyong said, everything spilling out of his with his tears. “And he took the necklace you gave me and I _love_ that necklace and – and I heard him talking to Jaehyun about what a geek I am and he’s still planning to date you and dump you to teach you a lesson because he figures you’ll break up with me now that you know what an immature loser I am but –“

“Wait, wait, slow down,” Yuta said, taking Taeyong’s shoulders and moving him back so he could see Taeyong’s face. Taeyong wiped his tears and looked down to the ground. “Did you say he stole your necklace?”

Taeyong nodded, his breathing coming less raggedly now.

“That’s terrible,” Yuta said, getting angry. “And you’re not a geek or a loser – did Jaehyun really agree with him?”

Taeyong nodded again. “I guess his plan to snare Jaehyun finally worked.”

“I thought he liked you,” Yuta said. “But listen, only a real loser would fall for Ten’s act. You know he’s a loser now, right? I mean, even though – I thought maybe you liked him.”

Taeyong looked up and saw Yuta’s dark brown eyes only a few inches away from him. He was still holding on to his elbows. _A terrific close-up view of my red splotchy face_ , Taeyong thought, ducking his head again.

“No,” Taeyong said softly. “There’s only one person I like.” _There. Now he knows._ He took Yuta’s hands off his elbows and pushed them back toward him. “I don’t want to be your pretend boyfriend anymore, Yuta.”

Taeyong turned and ran back to the bikes. Yuta didn’t follow him, and he was able to unlock his bike and escape.

\----------

There was a knock on the bathroom door. It wasn’t Mom’s chipper _knock-knock-knock._ And it wasn’t Dad’s serious, thoughtful _knock-knock_ , either. It was more of a _tappity-tap-tap_ , don’t-mean-to-intrude kind of knock.

“Go away, Youngho,” Taeyong called.

The door creaked open half an inch and a small snout appeared a few inches off the floor.

“I know Ruby isn’t opening that door by himself!” Taeyong hollered.

The snout nudged the door a bit and soon its entire squashed face was wedged in the gap. Ruby blinked, panted, and snorted, his tongue hanging nearly to the floor

“Ruby,” Taeyong said seriously, “I am not in the mood for a face-licking or whatever Youngho may have told you.”

Ruby trotted over to where Taeyong was lying on the bathroom rug and proceeded to do exactly what he had been told not to. Taeyong squealed and pushed him away.

“Youngho yah!” Taeyong yelled.  “I’m busy!”

“You don’t look busy,” his brother said from the doorway. “You look like you’re staring at the ceiling.”

“I _am_ staring at the ceiling,” Taeyong protested. “It’s called moping. Nobody is supposed to lick your face while you’re moping. It’s distracting.”

“Exactly,” Yongho said. “So what are you moping about?”

Ruby climbed on Taeyong’s chest, making him go “ _Oof,”_ and burrowed into his neck.

“You don’t want to know,” Taeyong said. “And what made you sound so mom-like?”

“You mean nosy?”

“I mean cheerful,” Taeyong said.

“You tell me, and I’ll tell you,” Youngho said.

“Are you serious?” Taeyong asked. “If I tell you why I’m upset, you’ll tell me the big secret you’ve been hiding all summer?”

Taeyong grabbed Ruby and sat up. Ruby settled down to lick his hands instead.

“Promise not to tell anyone,” Taeyong said.

“Of course,” Youngho said. “Who would I tell?”

“True. But it has to do with Yuta.”

“Ah,”

“You know?”

“Know that he likes you?” Youngho asked. Taeyong stared at him.

“No, that _I like him_.”

“I was starting to guess that too,” Youngho said.

“Youngho, you didn’t set up this pretend-dating thing on purpose, did you?”

“No way,” Youngho said, shaking his head vigorously. “I had no idea then. You guys always acted so normal around each other. I didn’t think pretending to date each other would be a big deal. Then you had that date and I was like, ‘ _Oooohhhhhh_ , I _see_ how it is.’”

“Really?” Taeyong said, blushing. “It was that obvious?”

“That he wants to really date you?” Youngho said. “Totally.”

“Stop saying that,” Taeyong said. “I’m the one who likes him. And now I’ve told him I can’t do it anymore, that I don’t want to be his pretend boyfriend, so I’m sure I’ve wrecked everything, I’m sorry.” Taeyong looked down at the bath mat. “It’ll probably make things kinda awkward for a while. Oh, why am I such a loser?” Taeyong laid back down, letting Ruby flop over on his stomach. “Why couldn’t I just pretend and let him kiss me and act like everything was fine?”

“Because you like each other,” Youngho said. “I don’t know why you have to be such morons about it.”

“Youngho, he doesn’t like me that way,” Taeyong said. “I’ve had a crush on him forever, but you’ve seen the people he’s dated. I mean, Dong Sicheng? He’s nothing like me. He’ll be with somebody new by next week.”

“I don’t think so,” Youngho said. “Come one, I want to show you something.”

“But I’m moping,” Taeyong objected. Youngho got up and stepped over him, and he followed, rolling Ruby onto the floor. As he passed the window, Taeyong saw that the afternoon shadows were much longer, he’d been hiding out in the bathroom for at least an hour.

Youngho sat down at his computer and plugged the video camera in. Taeyong flopped onto Youngho’s bed, covering his head with a pillow.

“Watch this,” Youngho said. “The night of your date. Remember, when we all came back here with Jungwoo?”

Taeyong peeked out. The camera was on him and Jungwoo. They were rolling balls of dough and getting flour everywhere. They were both laughing, with smudges of white on their faces. The camera panned over to Yuta, who was pulling raspberry jam out of the fridge. As Yuta straightened up, he looked back at Taeyong and Jungwoo with a smile.

“Hey, boyfriend, get over here,” Yuta said, unscrewing the top of the jam jar. “You've got something on your nose.”

“Oh, no, do I?” Taeyong said, touching his face and getting even more flour on it.

“Yeah, come here,” Yuta said with a grin. Taeyong came around the counter and stepped closer to him. The Taeyong lying on Youngho’s bed could see the look on the Taeyong’s face, and he thought, _Man, can’t the whole world tell how much in love with him I am?_

Yuta leaned forward, studying Taeyong’s face, and when he said, “Yes, yes, there’s something…right…here,” and with a studious expression, Yuta reached out and dabbed raspberry jelly on the tip of Taeyong’s nose. Taeyong shrieked and jumped back, “Nakamoto Yuta, you dork!”

Yuta was cracking up, leaning on the counter for support. The Taeyong on camera plunged his hands into Yuta’s hair and messed it up, leaving streaks of white flour in it. “That’ll teach you,” he said giggling and jumping out of reach again.

“Oh my God,” Jungwoo said in the background. “Youngho, stop them before they get so sweet our teeth fall out and we can’t eat these cookies.”

“Don’t worry, it’s over,” Taeyong said. “Because I won. I’m going to wash my face.” Taeyong headed out of the kitchen, still laughing.

But the camera stayed on Yuta, zooming in as he watched Taeyong go.

Taeyong in real life sat up.

“You see it, too, right?” Youngho said.

“Play it again,” Taeyong said. Youngho rewound a few seconds and once again Taeyong watched Yuta watch him.

He had the same look Taeyong’d seen on his own face earlier. The same half smile, the same starry eyes. Like Yuta wanted to chase after him and hold him and kiss him and perhaps spend every waking minute of the rest of their lives together.

Wow.

Maybe….just maybe….Yuta was in love with him, too.

\---------

“Ha,” said Youngho. “The camera reveals all truth. I win.”

“That doesn’t prove anything,” Taeyong said.

“Proves enough for me,” Youngho said.

“Then why did he let me run away from him today?” Taeyong said. “Why didn’t he tell me any of this?”

“Maybe you didn’t give him a chance,” Youngho said.

Taeyong pulled the pillow back over his head. This was weird. This was hard to wrap his brain around. He’d spent so long being convinced that Yuta couldn’t like him and would never like him that it was incomprehensible to think that he really might. It was like suddenly meeting a dolphin with wings. What was he supposed to do now?

“Okay, fine.” Taeyong said. “So tell me your secret.”

Youngho actually looked embarrassed. “It’s not as good as yours,” he said.

“I don’t care,” Taeyong said. “Spill it.”

Youngho picked up a pencil from his desk. “I’m in summer school.”

Taeyong sat up again. “Summer school? But, Youngho, you’re smart.”

“Yeah, right,” Youngho said. “I failed math last semester.”

“No way!” Taeyong said. “Why didn’t you tell me? How did I not know this?”

“It wasn’t exactly something I wanted to talk about,” Youngho said.

“But I’m your twin!” Taeyong said. “You’d think I would have noticed. I feel like a bad brother.”

“It’s okay,” Youngho said. “I asked Mom not to tell you. That’s why I’m not at Summerlodge with you.”

“Suddenly it all makes sense,” Taeyong said. “Youngho yah, you could’ve told me. I still think you’re smart. Now I just think there’s something wrong with our high-school grading system.”

“There is,” Youngho said with a smile. “They have this crazy notion that we should be taking notes on geometry instead of building model airplanes.”

Taeyong searched Youngho’s face. “But you don’t seem upset anymore, like you have been the last couple of weeks.”

“Yeah,” Youngho said, tugging a sheet of paper out from under the camera. “Look.”

It was a math quiz. A bright red 100% was emblazoned at the top.

“Mr. Park says I just need to focus, but that I’m very bright,” he boasted.

“Well, I could’ve told you that time, silly,” Taeyong said, batting Youngho’s head with the quiz. “You didn’t have to be a major grouch for two weeks to find that out.”

“Sorry I didn’t tell you,” Youngho said.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Yuta,” Taeyong said.

Taeyong glanced behind Youngho at the screen, where the camera was now focused on Jungwoo, who kept looking up at it and laughing.

“Hmm,” Taeyong said, raising his eyebrows at Youngho. “Maybe the camera does reveal all truth.”

“Shut up,” Youngho said, flicking it off.

“You should ask him out!” Taeyong said. “He would totally say yes.”

“Yeah, right,” Youngho said.

“Would you rather pine over him for three years like I’ve been doing?” Taeyong said.

“You’ve been pining over Kim Jungwoo?” Youngho joked.

Taeyong threw the pillow at Youngho. “I think he likes you,” Taeyong said. “He’s much more normal than we thought. It can’t hurt to ask.”

“I could ask her for you,” Taeyong tested in a singsong voice.

“Don’t you dare!” Youngho said.

“You wait and see,” Taeyong said, giggling. “I think I’ll take Ruby for a walk.” He said, scrambling to his feet. He wanted to think about Yuta, and he didn’t want his mom to ask about him, because he’d no idea what to say. _We broke up? We were never really dating? I still want to really date him?_ It was too complicated. He needed to think.

Taeyong bundled Ruby off the bed and grabbed his sneakers from his room, Ruby trotting excitedly behind him. Mrs. Lee reminded Taeyong that him and his family would go out to celebrate Youngho’s quiz grade and his archery win later at 9.

Downstairs, he dug out Ruby’s leash from the basket by the door, hooked it into his collars, and opened the door to the porch.

Yuta was sitting on his front steps.

Taeyong would have jumped back inside, but Ruby was already galloping over and climbing on Yuta with enthusiastic yips.

“Hey,” Yuta said. His cute smile made Taeyong want to gallop over there and climb on him himself. “Going for a walk?”

“Um – yeah,” Taeyong said. What could he say – no? The dog put the leash on himself?

“Can I come?” Yuta said, standing up and sort of awkwardly slouching against the porch railing. Taeyong looked down at the leash in his hands, blushing. Wouldn’t he rather go inside and hang out with Youngho?

“I guess, okay,” Taeyong said.

Ruby scrambled madly down the porch steps, yanking Taeyong and Yuta along behind him. They tuned left out of the gate and Ruby led the way down the street, snorting and panting and sniffing at everything.

After a moment, Yuta said, “Want to hear something funny?”

“Sure,” Taeyong said.

“After you left, I saw Jaehyun’s dad picking him up. Jaehyun said that he wanted to quit soccer and switch to other class, and his dad started yelling at him that this was what he’d signed up for, that they’d paid for lessons, he was going to stick with the whole programme for once and not quit when things got tough like he always did.”

Taeyong couldn’t hide his smile. “Poor Jaehyun.”

“Poor Jaehyun! I’d say he deserves it for what he did to you.”

“He didn’t really do anything to me,” Taeyong said. “I wasn’t interested in him. I don’t care that much about what he said. I know he’s one of those guys who let people like Ten yank them around and tell them what to think.”

“An idiot, you mean,” Yuta said.

Taeyong smiled again. “Not like you.”

There was a pause, and then they both started to say something at the same time.

“Go ahead,” Yuta said, but before Taeyong could, Ruby sprinted into the park. The leash tangled together and around Taeyong.

“Ruby, get back here,” Taeyong said, tugging on him.

“Whoops,” Yuta said. “Here” He unwound the leash and lifted it over Taeyong’s head. For a moment, Yuta’s arms reached around Taeyong, and Taeyong closed his eyes. _If only…_

“Let’s set him loose,” Yuta said. Taeyong opened his eyes to find Yuta kneeling next to Ruby. “That’ll solve this tangling problem.”

“Okay,” Taeyong said,

They herded Ruby into the fenced dog run and then shut the gate. Ruby ran to the other end.

“Can we sit down for a minute?” Yuta said, pointing toward the fountain.

Taeyong nodded. He didn’t trust his voice enough to speak. He suddenly remembered something he’d said two weeks before. Had Yuta remembered it, too?

They sat down on a bench where they could see Ruby. The sun was setting, turning the sky and the clouds pink and gold and purple. The drops of water in the fountain sparkled as they caught the fading light.

Yuta took a deep breath. Then he reached into his pocket, pulled out something, and put it into Taeyong’s hand.

It was a small blue origami whale. On the side facing Taeyong, Yuta had written TAEYONG…

Taeyong turned it over. The other side read, WILL YOU BE MY BOYFRIEND…FOR REAL? Taeyong looked up in surprise and found Yuta’s dark brown eyes only a few inches from him. Yuta reached over and took Taeyong’s free hand.

“Before you answer,” Yuta said, “I want to tell you how sorry I am about the last couple of weeks. I didn’t know Ten would be so awful to you. I’ll get you a new necklace, an even better one, I promise. I didn’t know how horrible he could be.” He looked down at Taeyong’s hand, running his thumb over Taeyong’s knuckles. “And I didn’t know I’d end up falling for you.”

Taeyong opened his mouth but Yuta squeezed his hand to stop him. “I’m crazy about you, Lee Taeyong,” Yuta said. “I think I always have been, but maybe I was too dumb to know it. I want to do all those things for you that I never wanted to do for my other exes, like call you every night night and tell you you’re beautiful and stuff.”

“But – really?” Taeyong said. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

“I guess it kinda caught me by surprise.” He said. “It took me a while to figure out that I liked pretending to date you. And when I thought about anybody else dating you – like Jaehyun – it made me feel all weird and mad and crazy inside. Is that dumb?”

Taeyong shook his head, remembering how he had felt when Yuta had started dating Sicheng.

“And I’m sorry I kissed you at the field,” Yuta said, “but I swear it wasn’t because Ten was watching. I forgot he was there – I forgot anyone else was there. You have no idea how cute you are in the outfit, Tae. And I’d been wanting to kiss you for days and I guess…I guess I kinda forgot we were only pretending. But I’m sorry if you hated it.”

“I didn’t hate it,” Taeyong said, looking down at Yuta’s hand holding his. “That’s the problem – I liked it too much, and I thought I wasn’t supposed to.”

“Then perhaps I’m not sorry,” Yuta said. They smiled at each other. Taeyong looked at Yuta warmly and realised Yuta has been wearing the dolphin earrings since the day he gave them during Yuta’s birthday. The earrings were sparkling in the dark. Taeyong couldn't help himself but adore how beautiful Yuta was with those earrings. 

“So,” Yuta said, “maybe I’ve been an idiot up till now, but I kinda thought maybe you were feeling the same way about me.”

“Yes,” Taeyong said.

“Yes, you feel the same way, or yes, I’ve been an idiot?”

Taeyong laughed. “Both,” he said. “But I like you like that.”

Taeyong’s heart beating so fast and so loudly, he was sure Yuta could heart it. Yuta touched his face. The look in his eyes said, _I can’t believe how much I like you, I’ve wanted to do this forever._ Then he leaned forward and kissed Taeyong.

And this time, it was absolutely real…and absolutely perfect.

 

 

 

 


End file.
